Astala Vista Babey !

What was formerly called the Longhorn is now renamed to Vista. (atleast thats what Microsoft says).

Click the picture and see for yourself the way Microsoft Works.

I understand every big company works hard for having a High Quality Graphics (pictures and fonts). But Microsoft Tops them all. Im mesmerised by the graphical content and the way Microsft.com is organized.

Microsoft certified me few years back. Now I certify Microsoft.com as a web portal with Naturally cool colours and graphics. Its called the Keerthi Certified Site - KCS. Anyone want their site KCS Compliant ??

However, I like Longhorn better than Vista. Try Windows Avyukta ?

Job Post II

Are you a fresher (doesnt mean you should have taken bath on a sunday morning) ? Any degree. My cousin-sister-in-law runs a consultancy, and requires fresh graduates, for her current opening.

Just eMail Paropakaram@gmail.com with subject line "Fresher 2407" (that means the job posting that came on 24th July and has nothing to do with 24 hrs and 7 days).

And the eLearning thing is still open. Guys let your friends know about this, and ask them to email.

Ah Aah - Musical Pulambal

[ctsy - Obviously Indiaglitz ]

SJ Surya should have had a very bad adoloscent times. Or he is yet to come out of it. I've not watched his new movie yet, but then listening to the tracks of Ah Aah makes me think, this guy has a very narrow thought process.

Last week, we had a discussion among our friends, about the depth of Rahman's music. We were listening to Uzhavan, one of his earlier movies. How much concentration he has given to it, even though it was not his mainline. But now, Rahman appears in vey few movies, and the music doesnt show any depth. Ayutha Ezhuththu was just a Frooty Loops mixture, easy composition (of course voices were doing magic instead of the music).

In Ah Aah, Rahman is forced to do music for a semi-porn songs. And he hasnt concentrated even like "New". Few songs in "New" were mesmirising, but this one is bad.

Someone on Lazygeek.net has said "Ah Aah music Sucks". Very true.

Please Rahman, We are missing quality music for quite sometime... Please !

Woo Haa !

Man On Moon

Yesterday, was annievrseray of Man landing on moon. If you forgot what your school lessons - July 20 1969 is the date. Neil Armstrong...ok Now you remember.

Thirty Sixth Anniverseray. Moon, however, is no longer our fancy. Our prime area of acquisition is Mars. So, moon is only a resort in 2045. But your flat will be in Ramanuja nagar, India-Mars Extension, Mars.

By the way, look how Google made a one-week project to launch Google Moon (like Google Earth) yesterday. It is nice to have a look at that.

And hey, i wanted to remind you about the job posting i posted earlier. For the eLearning company. You guys dont know anyone without jobs ? Unemployment is no more, is it ?

Avyukta Zeitgest

Google puts on the Zeitgeist for May 2005 - India. The Top Ten Searches of May 2005 by the Indians.

1. Sania Mirza
2. Aishwarya Rai
3. CBSE Results
4. CAT
5. Kingfisher Airlines
6. Harry Potter
7. ICSE results
8. John Abraham
9. maruti swift
10. kerela

My friend Madan will praise me forever, for posting up Mirza madam's picture. He is such a fan of Sania Mirza, that he switched his huge area of interest from Cricket to Tennis. Many of my friends, like Madan, have started being fans of Sania Mirza, in no time. I dont want to discuss the credibility of holding such a fan-club, and Is Sania Worth it.. No.. let me not talk about it, and win the ultimate hatred from Madan. (Actually he will kill me).

But the whole point is in Google Search, most of the Indians have searched for Sania Mirza. Thats an achievement one has done, in his life (in her life). How would you feel to be in the top of the searches. All the internet browsers searching for your details. Thats the proudest feeling.

Of course, veerappans name was there during the assasination. We dont want that kind of fame.

By the way, Down the list we find Maruthi Swift in the list. That car thats zooming in Chennai. Looks like the Car is a hit model. It looks really cute in my eyes. But few say it look s awkward. I personally adore the car. It looks like the Volkswagen Beetle. Small and cuty.

Dear God, are you watching ?

Job Post

I have many GMail IDs. One of them is really funny - Paropakaram@gmail.com

Send resumes of people in chennai, any degree.. This is for a eLearning company. They dont expect much, not even experience (however experience is an added advantage to your payslips). Only requirement, a very good Language Skill.

Send me the resumes faster. 15 - 30 positions available. Good Luck.

Important - Please type the Subject as "ELearning".

Monday Morning Misery

Monday Mornings are always Mysteriously Miserable. This is my wallpaper both at work and office.


[pic ctsy - digit/garfield ]

Miserable for one simple reason. This is the transition where you decide, whether you surrender to laziness or buy some expensive briskness. Either ways, Boss's mail is waiting in your inbox. So keep it moving, and quit to work. The Secret of winning mondays is to quickly wake up, and before you realize anything, be on your way to work. (this did not work for me.. you try it and let me know).

Hey, Here's something interesting. About the Fall of Hollywood.
MarginalRevolutions has an article on why Hollywood fail to impress this year. The Hypothesis is as follows.

1. Hollywood cannot control its marketing costs or star salaries. The growing importance of DVDs increases the "needle in the haystack" problem for any single film and thus locks studios into more marketing, creating a vicious spiral.

2. TV is now so much better, and offers artists greater creative freedom. Why watch movies?

3. The Internet is outcompeting cinema, whether at the multiplex or on DVD.

4. Big TV screens are keeping people at home, which lowers box office receipts. This also hurts the long-term prospects of many DVDs.

5. The demand for DVDs has fallen because movie lovers have completed their core collections, just as the demands for classical CDs have fallen.

5. The demand for DVDs was due to fall in any case. Forget the collectors, you buy DVDs to have a stock on hand so you don't have to run out to the video store on short notice.

If thats the case for Hollywood, where are we. I think Jollywood has been through this already. Only the DVD part is missing. Otherwise, I should say, Jollywood has survived the revolution.

What Say ?

Still Crazy on Invites

Take a look at this- ~An Advertisement on eBay.In~

GMAIL+ ORKUT INVITES AT RS 3

How does this sound ? Well, there were times when crazy things were exchanged on GMailSwap(Site now not operational) . I personally got my gmail ID after mailing a guy one Pencil art of mine. I was very early to get my GMail. I have nearly shell out 120+ invitations of GMail and almost everyone around me now own a GMail ID.

Even though GMail has not gone public, it is generous to fill our Invite bags with 50 frequently. That doesnt make GMail reach everyone, however. Is there enyone who doesnt have a GMail ID here. Just give me an email - keerthivasan@gmail.com (its free ;)

ORKUT - is not my place. I was there actively for some time. But then the same kind of stuffs repeated again and again. (May be i subscribed uninteresting groups). Why should someone want a ORKUT invite.

I was on eBay.in searching for some DVD Burner, just to analyze the market rates. Should fund this one soon. (Take a look at this)

Microsoft clips

Beautiful Clips - at Microsoft. Check them out. I just like the pictures part.
Do we get any good pictures - for clip use elsewhere ?

Why Mom's are the greatest

Picture CTSY - Ganapathy Tantry

If you'd remember, the last-but-one post had a very similar picture. Just scroll down to a post named "Shame" and comeback here.

You would be surprised (or not surprised) to see both the pictures look ultimaetly similar, but different emotions conveyed. I really dont know from where this guy has taken the photograph. But a brilliant effort taken. Gana says this picture was taken at the Gujarat Flood, exactly where the other photo was also taken.

Look at the eyes shown in this picture. 4 different eyes 2 different emotions. Look at how far your mom can go to save your life. She will do the ultimate sacrifice for you.

She makes sure you get the air in your nose, even if she gets water in hers..

What kind of affection a mom develops on her kid. Certain things in this world are unexplainable (you will find most of them on this blog). Being a Mom is one such thing. You couldnt understand the undivided affection and care and love and protection. Warmth.!

We may not be able to reciprocate in terms of everything, that our mom did to us. But we may have opportunities to Show back your love. How many of us utilize that opportunity.

Talk to your mom now.

ePaper

Scratch your heads before reading this. Or have you read this already.

In the line of eMails, eCommerce, eBanking and everything E .. we have ePaper. Well this one is a physical media. Take a look.

This is ePaper, Ladies and Confused Men. Fujitsu has announced the launch of bendy electronic paper that can store and display images wirelessly.

The newly developed ePaper features an image memory function that enables “continuous display of the same image without the need for electricity”, although it does require a smidge of power to switch images. Plus, the images don’t warp or lose quality when the e-paper is bent or rolled up.

Fujitsu has even outlined some applications for its smarty-pants paper, including wireless transfer of photos and text messages from mobiles onto the ultra-portable e-paper. Here are just a few other uses it envisages for launch:

• It can offer more convenient digital-media devices that can be carried from room to room in the home.
• Operating manuals and other short-term information displays, facilitating the trend toward paperless offices or factories.
• Electronic shelf display tags, restaurant menus, and other in-store uses. Can also be used for pricing displays or product information displays that stand out in full color and can be readily updated.

Well, I read this in Gizmodo. This might be leading to some interesting potential uses. The first, and most obvious, thing would be digital newspapers and magazines. You walk up to the kiosk, pay your money, and get a copy of Hindu sent down to your epaper for later consumption.

Whoops ! Is this possible ?

Shame !

[Pic Ctsy - Srikant ]

Im not sure if you received this eMail. The complete message in the eMail is as below.

Scene: A flood affected area of Vadodara, Gujrat

Cast: Joint Commissioner of Police, K. Kumaraswamy, riding on the shoulders of a Constable to save his feet and trousers from Flood Water!!!

Source: The Indian Express, July 2

I dont know under what circumstances the picture was taken. May be the Person being carried is injured. Or may be he is scared of water, but still wants to do his duty. May be he was doing something really good, except for this picture. Anything is possible.

But the newspaper content says The office was not willing to get wet. So he has utilized this service of his constable to port him. (or deport him !!).

Usually when I see a picture (this may happen to many of you guys ) a series of words would come in our minds. Something like google keywords that describe the picture. "Shame" was the word, in this case.

No Man's Land

For the past few days, I've been subject to a lot of movie watching. The last movie watched was so very different. So Very Different. It was like watching a Award Winning Malayalam Movie. If I reccommend this movie to you, and you in a happy mood watch this movie, then the after-effects are unimaginable ;)

No Man's Land. Written and Directed by Danis Tanovic. (Thats just a info.. I dont remember hard names). This is a war movie. Where most of the movie is not showing up any fight between the armed troops, but is a light story of a Man, and his friend - who has been booby trapped, and another Guy from the enemy-troops. All three of them are stranded on a trench. Each one's life at other's mercy.

Serbia Vs Bosnia. A beautiful arguement happens between the enemy guys, Thanks to all the technology for inventing sub-titles. They both fight fiersomely, and at every stage try to kill each other. The UN then intervenes, but they could do nothing. Then comes the saddest part. The power of politics. The UN even, in its corrupted minds, leaves the booby-trapped guy, alone with the mine. And the movie ends.

Dont be surprised, if you dont find a Climax. Have you seen a Sine Curve. Imagine a Sine Curve, that goes on a straight line. No Ups and Downs (Technically not a sine curve). Thats the way the movie travels. FLAT. Flat screenplay, no twists. Absolutely Flat.

Besides all these, there is Black Humour that brings a grin and a smile at times. You get a different experience watching these movies. This one is a masterpiece.

A tribute to the Chennai Slang

I have posted this long back, when Avyukta was not frequently visited. So, for the benefit of everyone, here's a re-post.

Click here to go to the Wiki page of Chennai Slang aka Madras Bashai.

Please read it completely. I guarentee a wholesome laughter.

he badly wanted to write a poem
he did not have a theme to reflect
he did not have the words to pen
he did not have the thoughts to express
but just a want to write

first para went like above
didnt know how to fill the second
searching for words, complex words
he was still struggling
may be it was a bad idea to write

he felt ashamed, not being expressive
being thoughtless and numb
but then he didnt care, he didnt want to
he has a different territory, poetry was not his
just thoughts wont do, just words wont do

he stopped writing that poem. not anymore.

JK on a good mood

Karthik Jeevakumar is also called JK, and also Invictus (click here to know what Invictus means).
I guess he is in a real great mood today. I got another pic from him. Taken at Everglades.

Just had a chat with him after the pic was sent.. but then you know what happened ?










Ada, Kosu thollai thaanga mudiyalappa !!!!

Camera Phones - not on my list

Call it Coincidence or whatever.. This is the sequence.

1. One fast look into Junior Vikatan. Read the news about the London Bombings, and more specifically about RengaRaman, who was on the train that was impacted.

2. One lazy browsing morning.. Chakra's Grafitti featured Renga's appearance on Junior Vikatan. Only then, i knew he was a fellow blogger. Renga is known as Dubukku in the Blogosphere.

Good to know, a blogger is on Junior Vikatan, and more good to know that he survived.

I also came across this article about Camera Phones being used to Broadcast the London tube calamity. Read it here...

I have had mixed opinions about having Camera on Mobile phones. I personally like the art of photography, and having a limited capability on camera is something i dont feel comfortable with. A VGA camera mobile is simply a compromise. I got a Samsung C100, when many other popular Nokia's were available for the same rate. Prime reason 65K Color. Nokia never gives a 65K color on any mobile less than 10,000 bucks, or atleast for Rs. 5000.

I have always dreamt of the Communicator. But thats not for the Camera on it. I like the feel of having an Organizer in hand, void the fact that Im the most unorganized person in my friend neighborhood. Yet, the style of having a relatively bigger mobile ( I dont like the smaller ones ) and a Qwerty keyboard function.. just melts my mind. Someone give me a good job (I mean a better job.. heh!). I wanna buy the Communicator soon.

Coming back to camera phones, look like many IT organizations are drafting policies to surprise the Associate, telling him - "Uh Oh ! That one is not allowed in there."

Well, First of all, who on earth thought of having a Camera on mobiles ?? What kind of Idea was that ??

Run Lola Run - A must see

I usually put a word to god, before writing anything like this. Just a question of why Im not allowed to watch certain movies much earlier.. I got Run Lola Run just a few days back. But this time, I appreciate God for giving the Cd with sub titles. Thanks.

This is a 20 minute movie. But repeated thrice. Each time you get a different story. Same Characters, and different sequences, and devastatingly different end points. This is the mother of all Screenplays like 12B, Virumandi. This movie is pretty old - 1998 released. Now you understand why I have a conflict with God.

The Story is very ordinary, and characters are not justified.. meaning Hero is not a good guy.. Heroine is not beautiful.. There is no Villain. Actually, in all the three sequences shown, each person perhaps becomes a villain. This will show you clearly how circumstances make a man do things in a hasty way. I guess everyone of you reading this would have watched this movie already.

If not, I recommend you to watch it. Have P2P ? Take a DVD Rip and download it.

Gp : and here I am....hey bro, cool blog, nice post.

That I guess was the last Comment on the Chatter Box (Posted as Insta Comment) on the Side bar of this Blog. NVNCBL was the service provider, and he has just Shut down the service.

Luckily i had eMail notifying the comments to one of my email accounts. And I was able to get Gp's comments from it. So, looking for some other Chat box to put on my site. Some one give me suggestions.

Reflections

Karthik's Back with his yet another Stunning Photography.

Title: Reflections.

Location: Everglades, FL

"Thanks to Jai for the reflection and staying still, Vivek for patiently sitting down until I shot the pic"

Thats too very good.

Karthik's promised me to buy that Canon Digi Cam when he is coming to India. (this is just my imagination)...

Thiruvasagam in Symphony

Just as I write this, Ilayaraja is singing "Puttril Vaazh Aravum Anjaen" around me (Surround, heh !). Thiruvasagam in Symphony from Ilayaraja, is really a treasure to keep. A Collectors edition you could say. This release has created a stir, and I find a great sale of this.. Proof - most of the people in my bay have their personal copy of this. Only that they dont like it. (whaw !)

Before you read this, understand that Im a great devotional guy. I belong to the group of friends who visit temples quite often, around the city on weekends. I have a good taste for Carnatic / Classical music. But Im not educated on that, i dont know which ragam or thaalam the song belongs to. But I have the flair to admire.. that will suffice. So, I was thrilled to hear "Hey Ram's Vaishnava Janatho" song, as it had the "Vaaranam Aayiram Soozha Vadham Seithu" piece classically sung the Iyengar way, with the Nadhaswaram and Thavil background. (this piece also appears in Keladi Kanmani, in a different way).

So, I was confident that Ilayaraja would have glorified Thiruvaasagam just as he did for Thiruvempaavai. However, I have no clear idea of Thiruvaasagam.

Has he glorified ? Well, Yes and No. People who have sung Thiruvaasagam would definitely hate it (Hate is a hard word to use, but I know it is apt). But first timers like me, will adore it like a classical song in a movie. I know, many of us like the "Alaipayuthe Kanna" song for the fast beats of AR Rahman,. This is quite similar, only we do not know the lyrics.

Polla Vinayaen - Sung by Ilayaraja is a 20 minute stand-still song. Ilayaraja accumulates all his brilliance and sings this song, and as Balaji had said, you will show no sign of life, when you listen.

Few of the songs resemble his old musics, but nothing wrong. Only one song, strongly resembles the Pithamagan - "Poovar Senni Mannan". But the song really deserves that music. AR Rahman reused his songs in Bombay Dreams, so Ilayaraja is excused. :)

"Pooerukanum Purantharunam" is my personal favourite sung by Bhavatharini and Ilayaraja. I would even plead you to listen to this song. You might get a hint of 'Mayil Pola Ponnu Onnu" from Bharathi.. Ilayaraja's music is so vast, that all his songs start resembling one of his own.

My suggestion - Buy it soon and listen to all the songs.
WARNING : Just like any Raja song listen it twice or thrice, only then you get inclined and get to like it. Let me know, if you do like it.

[ctsy - Bharatbala Pics ]

For those who did not know why did the Indian Flag appear on this, without a relevance (Duh ! When was something relevant here..) then I'd request you to go to Chakra's Blog.

By the way, Did you guys notice GMail was a lot inconsistant today.. This has happened quite sometimes.. I have trusted GMail all the way. Hope it doesnt Kavuththufai.

Broadband User Guide

All these months went on continous browsing,. And you know, thats not anymore. With the 1GB limit on, how would you know, how much you are browsing ?

Know your limits - is a very important sentence in philosophy. You go more than your limits, then you have to pay for it. In BSNL terms, if you download 80 MB Thiruvasagam in Symphony in MP3, you would be paying BSNL Rs. 160. The Original CD Price is Rs. 125/-.

So, dear BSNL Broadband users, kindly go to this site with frustration,. Find out how much ou have already consumed in the month of July. And take your kerchief and wipe your sweating forehead..yes..I was shocked to see mine., I had already consumed 60% of 1 GB (in just 5 days). Not very good signs, huh !

So, this is it. Same old Dial up behaviour.

Decision - July 5th

I took a very important decision in my life.

This decision could change my life.. the way i grow, the way i earn, the way i live.

It is during these decisions, a man becomes nervous.. or atleast me. I need some guts to get out of that, and it is difficult to move on with life, with the thought that doubts the durability of the decision itself. Would I regret for this later, at some point of time ??

What if I had decided otherwise.. Sounds like a 12B story beginning, doesnt it.. ! We cannot really sit and watch like the director of the movie, as to how the life will go, in both of the decisions. If I had been so much with Foresight, I would not have had a tremble in the morning. Strange, but I cant foresee even ahead of months.

I believe, it is decisions like this keeps man wondering about life. There are many ways you can take. One lightning decision could take a man anywhere.. to the top of the skies, or to the bottom of the rocks. Where do I want to go ?

I just think, my life is just as good as it used to be.. I dont want to be any more happier.

Anniyan - Still on Talk

[ctsy - The Hindu]

Thanks to Ram. C for indicating such an Interview on Vijay TV. I was watching TV for this programme. It was "Madhan's Thiraipparvai", a program where Madan reviews a movie along with the director.

Shankar answered to most of Madan's Questions in the most descriptive way, starts describing the effort he put on for the movie. It was making sense to listen to his answers, and his justification for the movie was acceptable. We can understand, that Shankar has already got the message many reviews have given.

He says " I wanted to make a stunt that never existed in tamil cinema. So, the idea of fighting Karate men was conceived. And the Stunt was extra-ordinary. But then.. people see it and just like that say 'Dho da.. Matrix scene copy..' . But I have put a lot of efforts in creating that scene. The 360 degree camera used to be only Horizontal in Matrix, I wanted it vertical. The Camera guys were stunned and said that it was not possible. But then, I made them make it nearly vertical, making an Oval round.. we threw Real Sadha (no doops) and took a shot, that was never a part of any Indian movie."

WoW ! It is really amazing when I realize the effort put to take that shot. Really Amazing Mr. Shankar. You deserve a great applause for that. But people wont go back to theatres to see that shot alone, would they ?

Shankar, Kamalhaasan and few great people have this Bad tendency to use Technology because it exists. Please use technology if you need them, only if you need them. Makes it Boring.

Use of graphics in a movie, is to hide the truth.. and make people believe it is real. "Pachchai Nirame " song from Alaipayuthey is a clear example of how well a graphics can be done. Many dont realize how the colors were manipulated and made real-like. But Shankar uses graphics just for the fun of having it. Please come out of it.

Shankar also said that most of the important scenes were cut off considering the huge length of the movie. Phew ! Wonder what would have happened if they were not.

The Power of Addiction

Internet Addiction is soemthing Iam into, and I guess most of us are into. I feel giving into some addictions are not wrong. But for those of you ethical thinking people, who feel being addicted to something is bad for morality.. here's news... Click Here

I check mails and blog and browse and download and chat and upload. Thats nearly 12 hours of the day. I am on the internet at home, whether or not i need it.

I dont really know if this is good or bad, but i have already felt the power of having it, sharing it, and owning it. I have sent one email for once and talked about it so proud for nearly seven months.

Anything and everything, we believe Google is going to give you. The Search terms that land on my site makes me feel so. People, including me are searching Just about anything on the internet. Once, someone searched for Margo Soap and it landed on my site. Wonder what happened.!!

Nyways, Sundays Uh ?? Ensoy yourself.. take a look
Click Here and Here. Real Good Animations.

Sethu Samudhiram

[ctsy - Manitham ]

"The Union cabinet has approved the Sethusamudram ship canal project, which was conceived about 150 years ago. The project many not be as important as the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal, but it will definitely change the Indian navigation scenario. Described by commentators as the Suez of the East, the new canal will reduce the travel time for ships moving from the east coast to the west coast by almost a day. This would mean savings in time, fuel and money. However, the project will need investment and recurring expenses towards maintenance of the canal." - excerpt from Financial Express.

More than a Social activity, this has become a political activity. Hope this project becomes live soon, without any hick-up. This project generates a lot of revenue to India (or savings rather). This was supposed to have been done by 1960. And we do it, 45 years later. Shame.

July 1st - Mourning Day

The BSNL Dataone Service will no longer tolerate my P2P downloads. Iam restricted to 1 GB per month. I would have to spend Rs. 2000 to download and watch a movie.. well, you know.. Kung Fu Hustle is not worth downloading if it would cost that much.

I know many users have used this Golden opportunity, and downloaded quite a lot of movies. I accept invitations from those who are in Chennai (and reachable) with a good collection of movies downloaded on their Hard Disks. I have a decent collection of movies ripped from Original DVDs (and hosted on some remote system).

I wish the BSNL guys be more mature to lift the Download limits.. at least make it 12 GB per month. That would do.

Small Computer of 1979

This is a picture of a Smallest Computer, designed for the Businessman. It occupies half of the room, unlike todays' businessman's Laptop that doesnt even occupy 1/3rd of his lap.

It is really interesting to read the book called "How It Works...The Computer". This book was published first in 1971 and then revised in 1979. There is not much enormous difference between the two editions. Technology was not at that pace, as it is now. Take a look at the same page of 1979's edition here.


The book also contains, various technologies used in computers, and is really humorous, the way it is written, when related to today's environment. Give it a read - here.

It is really amazing the way, computers advance in terms of technology. My computer One year old, is completely old. All its components has upgrades, and all of them are increased in capability, and reduced in size.

New SATA hard disks are incompatiable with my Computer. I need different Bus wires (Im not even sure if it will recognize). CD-ROM drive costs Rs. 700/- only. Just 5 years back, a floppy Drive used to cost more than Rs. 1500/- and now it is just Rs. 150/-. Understand that the cost reduction is mainly due to consumption. The entire world is consuming the Computer machine at amazing throttle.

In two more years, Mobile computing will reach its peak (My predictions sometimes work).

By the way, June 30th today. End of Six months in 2005. Did you realize, or were you busy ?

AAA Logo Creator, is one very good software, with a wide range of templates, that best describe whicherver your business is.

This Picture on the left was created with a simple click, and it impresses with every option. It is available for free trial download here. Give it a try.

New Google Earth is available for download. Whats the difference between Keyhole and Google Earth ? Well, 3D. :) Yep ! you can see earth the way you like it. Tilt it. See from surface, see from top... do whatever you want.. for in this earth we have an Undo button unlike our earth. I wish there was.

And hey ! 7000 up... smiles.

Anniyan - Review (What ?? Again ?)

I know most of you guys read a review of this movie. Hey, I never attempted to write reviews.. So, i thought I start practicing by writing useless movies, and then finally write for a Kamal movie. But, Anniyan gave me a opportunity, very quickly. So, here goes.. Anniyan - "The man who comes from hell, is not afraid of ashes !".

Shankar's career depended on this movie, and its hit-status confirms that Shankar has survived. But I wish he survived with a style. Shankar has grown backwards in terms of maturity. "Gentleman" was a all-appreciated movie. "Kadhalan" was crap but a huge hit, it was Rahmans game totally. "Indian" was a sure-hit, with Kamal starring a award winning cast. "Jeans" was crapper than Kadhalan, and again was Rahman's game. "Mudhalvan" was desparate.. he mixed up everything and with one interesting knot, he unfolded a huge hit. "Boys" was a movie, any adoloscent guy would have wished to direct. Amidst a lot of controversies, Boys went on good business, not to forget the great music from Rahman.

If Boys was adoloscent - Anniyan is Childish. Lucky Shankar got Vikram's dates. I am wondering the otherwise clause. If just 2 scenes in a movie could drive the movie to success, then Anniyan is a sure Silver-Jubilee runner. But the way I see it, two very good scenes and all other highly immature scenes, sends a clear message to Shankar - "Be careful next time you make a movie."

Whats the Anniyan Story - Ambi alias Rules Ramanujam is a lawyer, who strives to find perfection in others - interms of following the rules. He is not happy with people, who spit on the road, violate traffic rules, who make faulty brake wires, who doesnt care to stop to help a person badly hurt, and so and so.

Meanwhile, Ambi logs into www.Anniyan.com to log complaints aginst the person who did not stop the car to help a person badly hurt. And this person is killed by Anniyan. From there on, Anniyan appears and kills everyone Ambi finds fault with.

Is it enough for a hero to be angry all the time...perhaps no ! So, Ambi loves Nandhini (played delicately sloppy by Sadha). As other heroes do, he is not expressing it. And finally when he does, he understands, that his love is not reciprocated. This is when another character pops in - REMO. Remo is a model (you have to believe it.. you think you have choices ?) and impresses Nandhini and wins her heart, with a small Love-meter (crazy idea..).

So, we have Ambi, Anniyan and Remo rotating in Random fashion on the screen. And for the directors surprise, we are not surprised. There is a Split Personality or what is called the "Multiple Personality Disorder" on Ambi, and he behaves and super-behaves as Anniyan and Remo. Vikram has a huge carpet of Acting to roll over, and he has done it good. Sadha had a very small scope of acting, and she misses even that by a huge gap.

Back to story.. Meanwhile a crazy Prakashraj and Vivek duo, investigating all the murders, in a very unnecessarily disguised manner, finds out who is Anniyan. What they do after that, is the climax. Actually, Climax is the best part of the movie. Please dont take the exact meaning of best, its best because the rest of the movie is so-sloppy.

Vivek - a special mention is very much required. I felt Vivek performed even better then Vikram. Without Vivek, we would have quit the movie in 30 minutes. Absolute roll-out comedy. The theatre was fully laughing, and enormous response for Vivek's comedy.. at the sametime, the entire theatre sighed at the action sequences... Action scenes are really lengthy in Anniyan, and few of them very very immature. The Karate kids fight with Anniyan - damn it went more than 20 minutes. Too bad. Its boring man....

Music was really good to hear on my computer, but when I saw the way it was picturised.. it was not upto the expectations. "Kumari" song had very bad graphics and clearly showed, Vikram and Sadha were super-imposed on the backdrop of a huge Tulips garden, which was again a graphical animation. I bet Rs. 26 crores were not spent on the movie. There nothing worth so much of money.

Camera works amazing. In the action sequences, camera is the only thing that keeps us guessing, if it will be shown from top or panned, ,or will it be another 360 degree spin-around. But I prefer, Shankar stops using this technique in his next movie.. its kinda boring to use the same tricks.

On the whole, I find this movie Childish. I understand, "Childish" is not the word you give for a violent crime movie. But, Hey ! Watch the movie and you will know why it is childish.

Thaththu(Piththu)vam !

"Everyone is someone's fool" - I dont know who said this, but I really adore this quote.

Albert Einstein was a fool to his Girl Friend.
Mahatma Gandhi was a Villain to the Englishmen.

This post comes out of a comment section from Thennavan's ChennaiCentral.

Everyone of us have show a different faces to different people. We are a sincere worker to the Boss, but a lathorgic person at home. We are a monster to the next door kid.

Even if we are a soft-natured person, we are mis-understood as a rough guy by atleast someone. Thats because we do not completely adopt a theme, and follow that as our Character. We exhibit on-the-fly emotions. We react differently to the same sequences. Thats Human Nature.

We yell atleast at some person. We are rude to some, without our knowledge. We are impressing some at the same time. We are not a algorithm. Our emotions are not hard and fast. Emotions are better left uncontrolled. I suggest you adapt just one word in your life...

Let Go !

"Let go", is the principle (or the non-principle) is take in my life. If you feel like shouting and crying, and screaming and laughing loud, and yelling, and slapping, and throwing things .. whatever you feel like ... do it. DO IT.

I am amazed at a few yoga and other classes trying to teach us to - "Control Emotions !" why on earth should a human control emotions. Why should you not show your anger, when you actually are. Just because you want to be good. Revise your thoughts.. come on. You are angry, and you are blessed with expressions, Show it !

Thats why you would be someone's fool, but that doesnt really matter. Or Does it ?

Blogger Images

Thanks to GoogleBlog for the update. Blogger now has a beautiful way of uploading pictures, unlike the Flickr way. However, Flickr was good as well. Here's my try with the Blogger photos.

This is the Picture, I uploaded from my Hard Disk, directly to Blogger. This is the first picture, i ever loaded on my computer, actually. This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is Mr. Avyukta.

Avyukta is Lord Krishna's name and it means The Crystal Clear. And this picture of Lord Krishna, is called "Kaalinga Nardhanam".

You should definitely remember watching Mahabaratham on Doordarshan. Krishna tries to bring out something from the river, then comes out of the water with a deadly snake called "Kaalinga", and he performs an ecstasic dance over the head of the snake.

You will experience this divine spirit when you go to Srirangam, and there is a small Bronze statue (very very small) beautifully depicting this scene. This one is shown only on demand. So, most of you might not have seen it.

Thats with the picture, now to Blogger. The picture was customized to align left of the text, and size was modified after uploading on Blogger. Thats all the Flickr features you might need. So, with this, I think lots of bloggers will have one image per post for sure.

After all a picture speaks a thousand words.

Jollywood !

[ctsy - IndiaGlitz.com ]

Majaa is Vikram's next Flickr. With Anniyan rocking the Box Office, and Overtaken Chandramukhi's records early on, Vikram is now a relaxed man. And his next movie, Majaa, is precisely showing his mood. Maja is likely to go for a name change, but the pictures of Majaa that are out (however unrelated to the story..) are vibrant in terms of color and cast.

Beautiful colors carved out of different moods. I think Balasubramaniam is the Cameraman (correct me if im wrong). I like all those pictures, and this is the best one... Click here to see it.

Some more news about Thiruvaasagam In Symphony. Take a look at this pic.


[ctsy - IndiaGlitz.com]

Ramamoorthy - Viswanathan, Ilayaraja, AR Rahman, SA Rajkumar, Vidyasagar and Barathwaj (Sujatha and Madan on the back seats). All musicians on a single row, and only this kind of events can trigger this. What a show.

Most of the Google Search results to my blog originate from the Keyword "Harivarasanam MP3".
So, not to disappoint the music community, here's the MP3 i have uploaded on CoolGoose

Enjoy !

Madras Namma Madras

Dont be surprised, if Google Map search for Chennai gives the Madras Map. Try this, and you will surely be awe-struck to see the beauty of Chennai.


[ctsy - Namma Karthik ]

Thanks to Karthik, he spotted this, and informed me today morning. Karthik showed a Coonoor picture. I was, however, curious on Chennai. But then, Karthik had found the Latitude - Longitude for Coonoor (This one is in Nilgiris.. Karthik originates from here) and spotted the place... Great !!

I used KeyHole long back, but it showed only North America and someparts of Europe, very clearly, as close to RoofTop. So, same work-around India, would help reaching the RoofTop of my home soon. Imagine Google Maps and Google Locals together working in Chennai. Wow !

It will be like, you will search for "good jasmine flower" and Google will return you the Shop outside Kabali temple, Mayilapoor.. and show you a map as to how to reach it. You think this is funny... This is now possible in US, and will soon be in India. I bet !

My Sweet Petrol

[ctsy - The Hindu ]

"Petrol Prices Rise : Rs. 2.50 per litre"

I was getting, 3.6 Litres for Rs. 150 and now I would get 3.3 Litres for the same price. The price rise is understandable. How long can a government run on a loss, by letting Petrol on a price that is not affordable by Oil Companies.

Even LPG gases are to be priced at Rs. 450, but we are given LPG for Rs. 250. Slowly, it has to reach the 450 mark. And it will happen. So, soon we will have a day, where One Masala Dosai in Saravana Bhavan will cost around Rs. 70. Im talking of the very near future, say 2008.I already had One Curd rice for Rs. 175 in Mumbai. I couldnt digest both the fact and Thayir Sadham.

What I couldnt bear is that, within one month of purchasing my bike, Petrol prices have gone up by Rs. 3+. Statistically, I would get less than 1.5 litres for Rs. 150, next year. Kiruba was suggesting everyone to go to office by Bicycles, and so does Google. Well, what will happen to software guys from Sholinganallur ?

I've decided to put a repeater reminder, for the Thiruvasagam In Sympony. I wish it takes the hype. Buy it !! Read my previous post - See if im good at convincing.

Techno-Savvy

I read a fact book that said, a average person in the Software field, depends on 270 computers a day, directly or indirectly. Right from the Home computer, The database that validates your Swipe Card, your eMail server, Windows Server, Mainframe Server, Proxy, ISP, Yahoo Server, Google Server, Blogger (WOW) server and my list keeps going.

I was wondering too much of dependancy, in a very short span of time. More than two hundred computers, phew, thats a fanatic number. How did we grow this big and wide. It was 1995, when we never even thought it would be like this. I saw a computer only in 1997. And in just 7 years, I cannot measure the exponential growth.

We send emails to the next seat person (Peer ?). We chat with people within the office. We SMS a person standing in front. Technology is certainly a Complan Boy.

It has now become that I could always be reachable on Yahoo or MSN or atleast on GMail. I would give an Instantaneous reply. Iam online from morning 5 AM till 10 PM. After that I sleep with a Cell Phone on my bed. Damn ! Have i gone so busy. Very simply, NO !

Im not busy, or very necessarily an important person. But these are technologies available for me. I subscribe a broadband connection, and that facilitates me a 24 hour -always on (as Dayanidhimaran says).

I assume this exponential growth will take us somewhere, when we will mock at ourselves for being so Tech-Savvy.

Off talk - See if you can understand this picture ?? A man watching a Game Video.


[ctsy - BoingBoing]

Saga Comes to an End

A Three Year Saga comes to an end. Metti Oli is ended, and has created a Vaccum on Sun TV. Ususally, a good running serial is abruptly ended and people take a mind-set that no serial can replace that one. Later, after a few weeks, they start depending on the next serial. This has been the trend, ever since Mega Serials started capturing Prime Time.

The Last serial I ever watched was Chiththi. I really loved it, and think no other serial has a better screen play as that one. I ocassionaly watch Unjal on Vijay TV starring SPB Charan and others. It had a good pace. But then, its been half a year since i Stopped watching TV.

Nyways, as far as Tamilnadu is concerned, there is no Cable TV... it is only SUN TV.
"Unga veetula SUN TV connection koduththaacha ??" is the usual dialogue.

Looks like "Muhurtham" is occupying the Metti Oli slot, from tomorrow.

Vaazhga Valamudan... !

Thiruvaasagam !

ChennaiOnline.com has a beautiful offer, on its site. It is the Long-waited "Thiruvaasagam in Symphony" on stands and has a 10% offer on Cassette, CD and DVD. The DVD is accompanied with Booklets containing the Lyrics of Thiruvasagam. Read on the Suggestions of Sujatha, in this issue of Aananda Vikatan.

Im sure you liked this picture. Thanks to www.raajangahm.com for a beautiful pic, and I did a Photoshopping on it. Tell me, how do you like it. This one had the perfect mood for the title.


Click here for the ChennaiOnline.com offer on Thiruvasagam in Symphony. Wish you take it this way, and enjoy the benefit.

Now about the Sujatha Article on Aananda Vikatan.

Sujatha's suggestion -
"1. CD or Cassette, pay for it, and Buy it.
2. Dont send via Internet. Avoid piracy. Do not listen in MP3, as the compression sucks out the quality of music.
3. Hear it on Bose speakers, or relatively good Surround system. People who dont want to hinder others, hear it on iPOD.
4. Listen it in peace, alone at night. Hear it repeatedly (like once in two days).
5. Dont listen in full volume. Symphony is delicate, so listen in normal volume level.
6. Idle to have a musical knowledge to enjoy. Not that you need to identify the Raaga.
7. After all this, if you like it.. appreciate the man - iraja2005@yahoo.co.in

Do this as a smallest effort to glorify the greatest musician of this century."

I've booked for it. Iam Impressed by the take.
"Thiruvaasagaththukku Urugaar, Oru Vaasagaththukkum Urugaar"

Saturday Sunrise

With every Sunshine of a fresh Saturday, well, You get Karthik's Photo on my blog.
[Did you expect a poem !! Gotcha !! Write back what you feel, and click the pic for a bigger version]

As promised, Karthik has sent a pic he took in Wisconsin (but the promise was for last saturday). Nice Pic, isn't it ?

Anniyan Review on Teakada and Dreamstores. Seems to be justified reviews.
Indiaglitz review here. Looks like too-much of praise, that the movie may not deserve.

Tweaked the Side Bar a little. Fell a little Greedy on the Google Ads.
I got a mail from Google-Adsense, with a few suggestions. What you see is the implementation.

The Thennavan Bug

Thennavan was bit by the Ammani bug, and I was by him. Here's my piece of chunky.

09.00 AM - 10.45 AM Meet with Danny - Discuss Strategies
11.00 AM - 11.30 AM Team Meeting - Get Inputs
11.30 AM - 11.45 AM Coffee with TGS - ask for T-Docs
12.10 AM - 01.30 PM Con Call with Indian folks - Mark's BDay
01.45 PM - Lunch with Christy - get orders.
03.30 PM - 06.30 PM Prepare Design Documents for BMSY project

**** important . send "happy fathers day greeting".
****

I hate the concept of missing life in between work. Dont be Damn Artificial.

There is an Anniyan next to you

[ctsy - nowRunning ]

I like this photo of Anniyan better than anything (because it fits my CSS).
News - Anniyan - The Much expected block buster is out on Silver Screens. If you are a Vikram fan, this is your busiest day. Watch the movie First Day First Show at Sathyam or Many other theatres it is releasing in.

Forget all the stories you heard about Anniyan, and watch this movie blank. Im sure Shankar would not Disappoint us. There is one man's life at Stake - Oscar Films Ravichandran. Today is his Dooms day, where we decide if the movie is good or bad. Huge Crores of money has been put into this (Im not sure if it is worth it).

I heard somwhere, that Anniyan did not get any sponsors, because they did not want anybody to Sponsor and Advertise with Anniyan. But since a few days, I watched a Anniyan hoarding, sponsored by Lalitha Jewellery. (Pic was nice.. damn i dont have a Digital Camera !!)

Did you infer something strange. Movie Producers make films for people, spending millions. After that, they wait for the Public Decision. This fear is missing in Politics. Actually, and Ironically, the fear should be there in Politics, and Politicians should have a darn Commitment like what Movie Producers have.

AM Rathnam is committed to give good movies, and he strives hard to keep his standards. Why is a Politician not committed to doing good to people.

I see only difference. Movie producers put money, hire a responsible Director, who in turn takes great care in putting Artists people like, and Technicians that are reliable. But a Political leader, doesnt care who is underneath him. He just worries about who is above him, and how to reach that position.

How would it look like, if we ask politicians to Spend their own money to do Reforms to public OUT OF THEIR OWN MONEY, and later after Five years Re-Imburse them, with Incentives, depending on the Performance of their Governance. This way, the Politician is urged to produce results in his time, and get more money based on the Deeds, he had committed.

I understand, that this wouldn't happen and it is a crazy idea.., But hey !!! I just gave Shankar another new Story to make.

Useful Information (Quite rare to find useful info on this blog, uh !!)

Mobile puncture service for both two wheelers and four wheelers within Chennai who operates 24 hrs :- 9382819164. Just give them a call if your vehicle is punctured anywhere in Chennai, they would reach the place within 10 mins. They do not charge anything more than the ordinary puncture shops.

I verified this, before putting it on. They seem good. Information Source - Sudharsan Srikanthan

Tag Musique !

Ram.C Music Tagged me. That means, I would have to list down my Inventory and songs that I personally like. You should understand the essence of this.

Musique - aka Music has been my dream. I still long to have a Surround Bose speakers in the Home-Theatre room of my house (which doesnt exist.. this is another dream, eh). Crystal Clear Music - im a big fan of that. With Beautiful sound systems, you will be able to appreciate "Kaadu Potta Kaadu" from Karuththamma, which is also one of my personal favourite.

It is close to difficult to rate the songs, when there atre abundant. Yet these are the songs still in my memory.

No. of albums I own:
When it comes to buying Albums, I only buy Classical Music. My Interest varies from Small Thukuda Songs to Huge Keerthana's either Tamil or Telugu( I dont understand Telugu). So, Im not counting the Albums I own. I have a Big collection in the Form of Cassettes, and few in the form of CDs and many in the form of MP3s, all Carnatic.

On Movies, i have a appreciably big 7GB collection of Tamil and Hindhi MP3s. That should be huge. Selected Olden songs to Recent past, all movies take a good place on my Playlist.

Last Album that I bought:
I cannot forget the most recent Album purchase. I bot "Swagatham Krishna" by Piththukuli Murugadas, in Conne-Xions. On my way back, I met with a major accident and was on bed for 3 months all. All the 3 months i was listening to Piththukuli, and it was heaven.

Give it a try. Last Album I downloaded was Anniyan and Kana Kandein. Two good things I'm still chewing.

Currently Listening to:
"Kaalai Arumbi Pagalellaam Podhagi, Maalai Malarum Innoy !!"

A melody from Kana Kandein, is rocking my ears. Have you had this strange feeling, that when you hear one song in the morning, you will be Humming the song the whole day. I was Humming "Kaalayil Thinamum Kan Vizhiththaal Naan Kai Thozhum Devadhai Amma !" from New yesterday.

Albums that I'd want to take with me if I am alone on an Island:
I wouldnt wish that would happen. And if it did, the music I'd like to accompany are a few Sudha Raghunathan and KJ Yesudas. Of course, Illayaraja's 80's Hits and AR Rahman's 90's Hits will always be there.

Songs that you are most likely to hear me sing or hum (Song – Movie / Singer(s) / MD):
You could easily spot me singing one melody from any AR Rahman song. I very often humm these songs.

Telephone Manipol ! - A beautiful piece of improvization from AR Rahman. It contains all elements of music, and probably 200+ layers on Frooty Loops.

Vaathaapi Ganapathim - A Master-piece song performed by KJ Yesudas (I used to call him Jesudas, in childhood !). This is a very big song when sung, but actually a very small song when written.

Karunai Theivame Karpagame ! - Unnikrishnan will melt in your ears, when you listen this song. It easily wins your humming just on one time hear.

Uyirum Neeye - I guess this one is sung by Srinivas, it is a very unpopular song, but very Scintiallating (because i humm it very often).

Pa Sa Ni Sa - (Sounds Crazy ??) If someone humms this close to you, just approach him blindly and say "Hello Mr. Keerthivasan". Im the only person in the world that humms this beautiful piece from Bombay. I dont know why, but I do this often when Iam checking Lotus Notes mails.

Raasaathi Unnai - Chocolate Cake Song by Jeyachandiran - Ilayaraja. Beautiful song.

Favorite Singer(s):
In order of Priorities I give to listen, these are my favourite Singers.

Piththukuli Murugadas
Sudha Raghunathan
KJ Yesudas
Hariharan
Sujatha
Unnimenon
Karthik - Sriram Parthasarathy
Vijay Siva - if you dont know this person, you better know a musical genius.

Im just skipping the Favorite Lines section. I will do it separately, on a separate post.

Now comes the best part.

I am tagging my fellow Bloggers, for Musique Tag.

Lazygeek - a person who shows great interest in Music, and most of all Lyrics.
Kiruba - He likes music too.
Iyengar - You should know about him
Senthil - The Jack of all is good for Music
Prabhu - I think he is on vacation
Krithika - very Optimistic person

This one brought good memories of very good songs. Thanks Ram..
This is to anyone who wants to Put up their list, pick up this tag. (Never mind, its not a link).

Save Your Summer ! Build your own AC

Here's an interesting read, and an amazing invention made by a student of an unknown university.

He has made an Air Conditioner from a Table Fan. This is the need of the Hour in Chennai. You wont belive, Chennai is still burning under a very angry Sun, and the Air Conditioner shops are rocking their business. They would have won their credits.

Well, if you cant really afford a AC, or if you are a Try-IT-On kid, then give this a try.


[ctsy - BoingBoing ]

Yep ! This is what your AC would look like, if you could make it.
Read more on how to make this thing work, HERE. Trust me, you dont want to miss this.

More nag : Anniyan is all set to release on 17th of this month.(Is that day after tomorrow !!)

There is a new discovery, in case you didnt know. UC Berkeley planet hunter Geoff Marcy and his colleagues have discovered the most Earth-like extrasolar planet ever seen. Click here to read more.

I once discovered a planet, but no one agreed to accept. What to do, Great men are Ignored initially (or, is it always ??).

Traffic Arrogance

We are not a normal person, when we drive (atleast not me..). If you would drive on that Nelson Manickam Bridge, you certainly would not be a normal person. You would have to exchange looks with the next bike person. You would be easily irritated by the car thats sliding backwards. You are about to shout at the Auto, that took a quick turn and occupied the space you thought of occupying. You yell at the Cycle guy who just scratched your bike.

You should see the entire tension of all the people waiting on the God Damn Red Signal, in the Nelson Manickam Bridge. Sometimes, the Queue starts at Loyola College itself, those times are Heaven in itself. When all these happening to me, for the past one month, i noticed one thing.


[ctsy - Someone's worldtrip_2002 ]

We are rude people on road, no matter how good we are. Most of us are not polite drivers. We easily get irritated by mistakes committed on road, even though we are aware it might happen to us. Have you seen people shout at people who fail to start their bikes, even after the signal is on. Have you seen people gaze strong looks when someone puts a sudden brake, for the sake of a road-block.

We easily get angry on Road. Looks like everyone is on a hurry. Everyone's rushing and accelerating to their destinations. Teenagers think they are on a Mission Impossible movie, and drive like the Heroine is to be saved.

Should really put down the tension. These kind of tension on road are dangerous.
My way of avoiding is - off to office before 8 AM. No traffics. I can see my speedometer kiss 80.
Fresh air (and bad smell at valluvar kottam Onyx) refresh the day.

Next time you are on drive, think of tolerating mistakes. The person on the other seat is driving much like you, and what happens to him can always happen to you.

Click here to read Ramya's article on Blogging activities. Few/most of the names mentioned there are my friends.

Bushisms

Monday mornings are the laziest. I wish i skip this monday morning part every week.

Talking of Bushisms - if you are not aware as to what it is, here goes.

Bushisms - A very classic excerpt/snippet of speech given my the 43rd President of United states.

George W Bush is well known for loose talks, and they have induced a separate rangwe of audience for them. Here are a classic examples of Bushisms.



Most of them do not have sense and meaning, and keeps wondering how could a Powerful man on the world talk such non-sense.

"It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of — and the allegations — by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble — that means not tell the truth." —George W. Bush, on an Amnesty International report on prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Washington, D.C., May 31, 2005

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." —George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

"We discussed the way forward in Iraq, discussed the importance of a democracy in the greater Middle East in order to leave behind a peaceful tomorrow." —George W. Bush, Tbilisi, Georgia, May 10, 2005

"I think younger workers — first of all, younger workers have been promised benefits the government — promises that have been promised, benefits that we can't keep. That's just the way it is." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 4, 2005

"It means your own money would grow better than that which the government can make it grow. And that's important." —George W. Bush, on what private accounts could do for Social Security funds, Falls Church, Va., April 29, 2005

"It's in our country's interests to find those who would do harm to us and get them out of harm's way." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

"We expect the states to show us whether or not we're achieving simple objectives — like literacy, literacy in math, the ability to read and write." —George W. Bush, on federal education requirements, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

"He understands the need for a timely write of the constitution." —George W. Bush, on Prime Minister Iyad Allawi of Iraq, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

"Well, we've made the decision to defeat the terrorists abroad so we don't have to face them here at home. And when you engage the terrorists abroad, it causes activity and action." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

"But Iraq has — have got people there that are willing to kill, and they're hard-nosed killers. And we will work with the Iraqis to secure their future." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005

"We have enough coal to last for 250 years, yet coal also prevents an environmental challenge." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 20, 2005

"Part of the facts is understanding we have a problem, and part of the facts is what you're going to do about it." —George W. Bush, Kirtland, Ohio, April 15, 2005

"I'm going to spend a lot of time on Social Security. I enjoy it. I enjoy taking on the issue. I guess, it's the Mother in me." —George W. Bush, Washington D.C., April 14, 2005

"We look forward to analyzing and working with legislation that will make — it would hope — put a free press's mind at ease that you're not being denied information you shouldn't see." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 14, 2005

"I want to thank you for the importance that you've shown for education and literacy." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 13, 2005

"I understand there's a suspicion that we—we're too security-conscience." —George W. Bush, Washington D.C., April 14, 2005

"If they pre-decease or die early, there's an asset base to be able to pass on to a loved one." —George W. Bush, on Social Security money held in private accounts, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, March 30, 2005

"In this job you've got a lot on your plate on a regular basis; you don't have much time to sit around and wander, lonely, in the Oval Office, kind of asking different portraits, 'How do you think my standing will be?'" —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 16, 2005

"In terms of timetables, as quickly as possible — whatever that means." —George W. Bush, on his time frame for shoring up Social Security, Washington D.C., March 16, 2005

"I repeat, personal accounts do not permanently fix the solution." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 16, 2005

"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table." —George W. Bush, Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 22, 2005

Copyright - Thats Copy - Right !

What do you have to say about this picture ?


[ctsy - BoingBoing ]

Here's confession. If every computer now bought in India, would be shipped with Original Windows, imagine the turn-over Microsoft would have taken in. Take the funny-bone. Yesterday, i was in Richie street, buying a PC for uncle. Windows CD is available for less than a hundred, and Linux is costing more than 500 bucks. God Damn Linux is supposed to be free OS.

I only remember Karthik's dialogue, "..you know why people dont prefer Linux in India, despite the software being free, Because in India Windows is also free...". Thats subtle truth on the face.

Why am I writing this ?? Lazygeek had removed a snippet of Aananda Vikatan from his page, because a fellow blogger commented about copyrights. Well, that left me reactionless.

I had a really bad habit of posting images on my Blog without giving credits. Then Jeff Philips mailed me a educator, and i really understood the importance of crediting the authors. I feel only creativity has to be given proper Credits. Thats the one that breaks hearts for creators, ie their creation used without their name.

The other things have to be Copyright protected as well, but logically I dont mind crossing lines on what is not illegal. I may not be very professional in composing a Disclaimer for using other guys stuffs on my blog, yet Something tells me "Thats not wrong.."

Lateral Worries

I was talking to my neighbour about the Entrance Taking Exit in Tamil Nadu. He told me an Illustration, Ladies and Gentlemen - be prepared for this.

There is a girl in my X-school, and she has been doing really great in her academics. She has been dreaming all MBBS. It has been her desire to become a doctor, eversince she was a Kid. And you should see the way she studied, for her exams. Unfortunately she had scored 598/600 in her main subjects.(I nearly fainted at this point,.I cant handle big numbers).

Now with very limited seats for MBBS, and few students scoring 600/600, and No entrance exam marks considered. Add Our very old and useless Reservation system. Whats the Bottomline ?

A Girl cannot get a medical seat despite great effort and brilliant mark.

Now, Iam confused. I feel pity for the girl. How would you react. ???

Kingfisher Soars to sky !

[ctsy - flyKingfisher ]

The Kingfisher Airlines has been Launched in the Indian Skies, and Vijay Mallaya, the face of the $2 billion UB Group is all smiles.

Operations are not yet in Chennai, and involve only Delhi Banglore and Mumbai. Competitive rates, and the Back Side TV screens are the biggest attractions. Of course Kingfisher is Glamorous in all aspects.

Still Life

[ctsy - Gizmodo ]

Look at this camera from Casio. This should be the slimmest I've ever seen. It is a 5 Mega Pixel camera, and promises a feature of Anti-Shake. Guess it wouldnt show the wavering imasges, when your camera shakes at the last moment. I did not get more informations about this camera. The Casio site is in Japanese. Somebody please send me a link.

Attended Siva's wedding in Royapuram. Looked like I was circling entire Chennai yesternight. Never seen those places. Also, it was heaven to see the Harbour via that bridge across the Harbour.

Siva came on a Charriot (I've only seen Queen Elizabeth climb such a thing..) with Manmadha Raasa on the Music Band. Marriages are somthing beyond ordinary. Siva cut the cake, and one photo session with the Bride. Vidu Joot. Everyone climbed up the podium, gave the gift and rushed to the food mall(hall actually). Very good food. No great numbers, but limited high quality food. Long Live Shiva.

News Update : MSN Toolbar is now powering Internet Explorer with Tabbed Browsing. Thank Heavens Miscrosoft is atlast opened its eyes to improve Internet Explorer. Get the software here.

Defenseless on a War

Who was Defenseless - Me. War with whom - Rain. Funny isnt it. Well, it wouldnt have been funny, if you were me, and if you were on the Nelson Manickam undergraound bridge waiting for the Damn signal, and all of a sudden it starts poring. I was wearning no helmet. No funny handkerchiefs Crowning me (i hate that habit..). Not even a glass to protect my eyes from the rain. You know how it feels, when drizzles hit your eyes, when driving.I was not good enough like Arvindswamy to put down my bike, and dance useless steps on the Road.

Rain gets its respect only when it rains, when it is expected to. Unexpected rains on Nelson Manickam Raods are not welcome.

Forget it. I can manage all my sneezings today.

Hey, if you are a Mainframe guy, you might want to look into it.
Click here to learn the importance of Mainframes, these days.

I guess tomorrow is a very auspicious day. Many marriage invitations waiting to get executed at home. What does that mean , Good Food ? Oh yes. One reception tonight, and will know about it all.

Invictus is here !

As promised, Karthik Jeevakumar aka Invictus is here, with one of his photograph.



Click on Pic to see the full version.

Karthik is right now in Chicago..
More on Karthik, will be from himself.

Whoopa ! You Commented well.

Different people seemed to have different take on the Entrance Exam take-away. Take a look at the Comment section of the previous Post, and you will now. Interestingly, few (or more) of the points were to be accepted. Deepak, Krithika, Shailendra and Anbu had issues against it, and they have a valid reason for it.

Nyways, Like it or not. The law is made.

See if you can Appreciate the following.


[ctsy - BugBash ]

This was an effort that started two Mondays back, and Kiruba had put a link on it. I watched them for the past two weeks, and guess it might grow up to be a Dilbert. I subscribe for Daily Dilbert, and enjoy the fun. As Dilbert is for Management and Middle Management, BugBash is for Techno- Software guys. You should like it, if you are a Software Engineer by any chance.

You could even subscribe for this Cartoons. Click here for BugBash and Here for Dilbert.

Anything Special ?? Middle of weeks are damn boring.

Entrance takes Exit

Im so happy that if you would come to my home, Ill give you fresh Bengali sweets.
Reason : Tamil Nadu abolishes common entrance test

This is a respectable move provided, Single Window System still stands good. The reason why Iam happy, and how I can justify them are as follows.

When I completed my +2, we had a Rank order in the class after results. And the rank order never got disturbed even after adding the TNPCEE marks. Whats the difference it makes. Entrance Exam is no more a filtering criteria. Everyone has a B.E seat. Why should students spend nearly Rs. 5000 on a extra Entrance Coaching class, Extra travel to a useless college in some outermost circle of chennai, Extra application forms, and Tons of unwanted Tension.

+2 Exam is supposed to weigh a persons ability to do his degree. Why would Anna University have to doubt the credibility of the exam, by having another one added to it.

But talking about Rural students getting benefitted out of this move is ambiguous. Another problem will be faced by CBSE students. CBSE +2 scores arent that high, so they compensate on TNPCEE marks to get euivalently competitive Cut-off. Now thats void.

There are many Cons for this legal decision. Yet, I wave my hats off for the bold / boldest move made by the Chief Minister.

Open for a debate... Voice out by clicking on Comments.

China takes on Hollywood

I dont know if there is a term like "Hollywood" and "Bollywood" (of course, i hate Kollywood for Tamil film industry - i suggest Jollywood for Tamil, whats your take ??) for the Chinese film industry. Anyways, this Chinese movie has taken over the entire Hollywood by awe.


[ctsy - KungFuHustle ]

There is no story in the movie (or atleast it is simple..) and the movie doesnt depend on it. The key part is the Action sequences and the Rolling comedy. You have digital graphics effects on both. Freeze frame/ Slow motion sequences are the best you can see. This movie has brought in scenes that you did not watch in Matrix.

The comedy scenes involving Stephen Chow (he is the director as well) is amazing. I was imagining Kamalhaasan and Yuki Sethu in Panchathanthiram.


[ctsy - KungFuHustle ]

Many reviews are in praise of the movie and Stephen Chow for the movie is really Bloody and the action is too violent. But strangely you will have a laughter on your face when watching it. It is like watching some Leslie Neilson movies with really great Action Sequences.

You better watch this movie. BTW the Tamil Dubbing of the movie seems to Rock the theatres.
Mirattal Adi is the name and it has all the common Madras Slang features in it. I dont know why all the movies are pushed with Madras language. I did like the Tamil Dubbing of Titanic, but others are all useless crap of making a good movie untolerable.

Raghu and Karthik say Mirattal Adi is good, just because of the Tamil. Go have a watch.

Ganguly is Not Out still

Even though there are no matches being played, The DADA is still under deep critisism (how do you spell that).

Look at a mail forward - sent by Pravin.


[ctsy - MScIT Group on Yahoo]

Robotica !

June Digit is now on Stands. 3 CDs, 1 Book, 1 DVD and normal Digit Magazine. All for Rs. 200. Go Get 'em now,.

Do you recognize any of these. You'd have seen it somewhere.



Jack was facing this problem, and most of us are **ssed off with this technology.

DO you have an idea, of why this is there at place. Here's answer.

If you are viewing this site, you should be a decently educated omputer literate. And you would know what is called SPAM.

Web definition for SPAM - An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or USENET or other networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium by sending the same message to a large number of people who didn't ask for it. Mass junk E-mail.

However, SPAM is not just on emails. Its everywhere. People are trying to misuse features, whenever there is a loophole.

Keep aside SPAM, and come to ROBOTs.

Robots are tools available for your computer, that will help you fill out forms. You would have entered your name and email address millions of times, to get anything and everything on net. So, these programs, have an intelligence to read out what the page is all about, and fill them out, while you are at convenience.

So, what ?? well, you could design a script and employ a Robot, and create One Million Yahoo! email IDs on one day. Thats called a different kind of Spam. - Spam O Spam !! (kidding... i dont know what it is called.)

To prevent that, the domains and sites put up this technology, which Generate Dynamic text, and put them scrambled up, so that Robot programs cannot correctly recognize the words. Only Humans can. Thats the magnificiency of Human Minds.

For example, look at the first scrambled text on the picture. "STRIUMB". Robots will read them as "SHRMB". So, they would fail in their attempts to Spam the domain.

This is how, Computer programs break Computer Programs.