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Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Posters

Every 10 feet we find a poster of Stalin laughing, smiling, shouting, standing, sitting, writing. Yes this is what we see in chennai nowadays. Cinema posters are lesser in number. And also the pose of politicians are more cinematic than real cinema posters. Number of Karunanidhi posters are less though it increases occassionaly. In all these posters be it Stalin or Karunanidhi their pose will beat Rajinis pose in Sivaji. Their costume will beat Amitabhs or Sharukhs hands down. Charisma plays a part agreed but if we have to look at their face every 10 feet it makes us tired. Why do they advertise themselves?

To top this I also find posters of one person named Jayachandran pasted all over Madipakkam road. They have used all words in tamil to decribe him as the hero. He is shown walking, smiling, riding a chariot etc. I dont know who he is.

And yes occassionally we see our great Ramadoss (who was once against family politics) with his son.

And sometimes we do see some photos of Vasan. I wonder who still believes in Vasan to keep a poster for him.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Sivaji - Second take

My first view on Sivaji can be found here

I saw Sivaji for second time at Sathyam on Friday. I missed the Ballelaika song thanks to our Traffic. As the expectation was set clearly this time there was no disappointment and only it got better than first time. Somethings which I felt boring during my first view felt good this time.

For some reason Sahana song did not click second time also. Sometimes I felt Shriya does the same kind of dance movements in all songs.

Overall I felt the movie racier than the first time. Rajini rocked all the way.

The theater was full of kids which meant lot of familes had come to watch the movie. The theater was housefull. After 50 days the film is still going strong (remember the 50 days of Sivaji is equivalent to 100 days due to number of prints). I think after Indian this is the next movie I watched in Sathyam and the sound effect was good. Overall it was a good experience.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

பஜாஜ்

தொலைக்காட்சியில் வரும் பல விளம்பரங்களில் சில விளம்பரங்கள் நமக்கு பிடித்துப்பொவது உண்டு. அதிலும் மிக சொற்ப பொருட்களின் விளம்பரங்களில் எல்லா விளம்பரங்களும் பிடிப்பது அபூர்வம். உதரணமாக "7 அப்" அந்த கார்ட்டூன் விளம்பரம் எனக்கு மிகவும் பிடித்த ஒன்று. இப்பொழுது நான் பேச வந்தது அதை பற்றி அல்ல பஜாஜ் விளம்பரங்களை பற்றி.

பஜாஜ் கடந்த சில வருடங்களில் ஹீரோ ஹோண்டாவை தூக்கி சாப்பிட்டுவிட்டது என்றே சொல்லலாம். பைக்கில் மட்டும் அல்ல விளம்பரங்களிலும் தான். ஒவ்வொரு பஜாஜ் விளம்பரமும் அற்புதமாக உள்ளது. அவர்களது பல்ஸர், டிஸ்கவர், கலிபர் அனைத்து விளம்பரங்களும் கண்ணுக்கு விருந்து. மிகவும் மாறுபட்ட சிந்தனை அடங்கியது. மற்ற நிறுவனங்கள் மிகவும் பழைய கால ஐடியாவோடே விளம்பரம் கொடுத்து கொண்டு இருக்க பஜாஜோ எங்கேயோ சென்று விட்டது.

குறிப்பாக இப்பொழுது வரும் பல்ஸர் விளம்பரம் அருமை. ஒரு பைக்கில் இருந்து பல பைக்குகள் வந்து, பிறகு அனைத்தும் ஒன்றாக இணைவது அருமை.

பஜாஜின் வெற்றிக்கு நிச்சயமாக இந்த விளம்பரங்கள் அதிகம் கை கொடுத்து உள்ளது என்பது மறுக்க முடியாத உண்மை.

அந்த டீமுக்கு ஒரு சபாஷ்.


Monday, July 23, 2007

Fatboy slim

This is my favorite music video. Christopher Walken rocks.

Manmadhan

This week I had the chance of watching two tamil movies which were released before 2004. One Thiruda Thirudi and another one Manmadhan.

Thiruda Thirudi is an ok movie. Nothing much to write about it.

Coming to Manmadhan, I am not a fan of Simbhu. I always felt he is just an imitation of Rajni. But despite the fact I am not his fan I have to admit he is an extremely talented actor. Though like Kamal he has added scenes just for the sake of showing of his acting histrionics, he has excelled in many scenes.

Considering the fact that he has authored, screenplayed and shadow directed the movie it is an achievement for his age.

The scene where he watches his brother through the window is highlight for his acting skills.

He is one person who has good potential but because of his offscreen negative matters reported by media not able to come up and garner support of the public.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

A road that existed ..

Today I made the wrong decision of coming through OMR. I had no other choice so I made the decision and started from Palavanthangal. I came through Madipakkam road and before the hell (bathala saakadai) section began I turned towards the road which would take me to Velachery. After difficult ride in that road I joined the Velachery - Pallikaranai road and turned in the 100 ft road which would connect me with OMR at thoraipaakam.

This was one road which I admired 5 yrs ago when it was laied initially. But just within couple of months the road became a nightmare and I read one person died in a pit which was dug for a bridge. The pit which was enough to hold 5 elephants was dug immediatley after the road was laid and a temporary road was made through the marshes. The pit still remains and the bridge has not been completed yet. When I was thinking this was worse now I see they have started work on two more bridges on the same road making driving through this road a hell.

With just 1 mm of rain everyday these three points have become very dangerous spots but not for guys driving sumos and qualis as they honk behind you making you jump out of your bike into the slush.

Either the highways department is run by brainless retards or people who has their brains in #$%@#$%. Why the heck did they start two more bridge works when they were unable to complete the first bridge for 5 yrs. Mind it the bridge is only connecting the width of the road to enable water flow. If given this bridge can be cosntructed in a month with commitment.

Now the road is dug at three bloody places and every body is made to suffer.

I wish the government doesnt start any other development work as far as I know none of the development work has provided a relief instead made only life a nightmare. Kathipara, Chromepet, Nidhi school subway, OMR modification, Airport flyover none of these are showing any sign of completion. But these works has caused tremendous amount of confusion for everybody. Kathipara which was mentioned that it will be completed by end of April now they have given a new date that is end of this year. With monsoon starting in october if whole of chennaivaasi work on this project also it cant be completed. They just think of us as retards when they themselves are the biggest bafoons.

I am tired, I am fed up with this attitude of our guys.

Velachery service which should have started ages ago is being tested today. Hope all goes well and the line becomes operational. The new bridge they have constructed near Velachery station the lesser said the better. Not even a military truck can use the bridge.

I guess all these bureacrats has concrete instead of brain inside their skull.

Old Mahabalipuram Road as the name says has become one road which existed long time back.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Haneef

The Hindu's first page is full of news about Haneef nowadays. Before that it was screaming about Pratibha Patil Vs BJP, and before that it was screaming about something else. Agreed news papers should report things which are currently happening but the things is after a week or so we dont see any news about the things which occupied the front page the previous week. May be when starting the newspapaer one will start with honest mindset but as the day goes they run out of things to report and report useless things.

All news papaers has more than 2o pages only 50% will be of useful stuff the other 50% will be junk.

Newspapers can be forgiven but take the case of weekly magazines like Kumudam and Ananda vikatan. I bought the two of the recently and went through them and found nothing useful. They just put some content to fill the pages and sell them for Rs 10. They boas that they are the no 1 magazine. People still buy these magazines only out of habit and nothing else.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Sivaji Mania

Since its been almost a month after Sivaji got released I thought of watching it once more and hit Mayajaal. Infact I chose mayajaal as it was on my way back from Mahabalipuram. Mayajaal has been running Sivaji upto 25 shows some days. So I was very confident that the tickets would be easily available. But when I reached the theater and asked for Sivaji ticket he told only 11 o clock tickets are available. I thought I didtn hear him properly and asked my cousin to reconfirm and yes Only the night show tickets were available when it is running almost more than 10 shows a day and I could see people were buying the tickets for night show.

Boss Rocks.

Friday, July 13, 2007

மடிப்பாக்கம்

ஏற்கனவே நான் பல பதிவுகளில் கூறியிருந்த படி மடிப்பாக்கம் சாலையில் பாதாள சாக்கடை வேலை நடந்து வருகிறது. அங்கே வேலயை ஆரம்பிப்பதற்க்கு முன்பு அந்த சாலயை உபயோகிக்கும் மக்களுக்கு மாற்று வழி ஏற்ப்படுத்திவிட்டு வேலயை ஆரம்பித்து இருந்தால் வேலயும் சீக்கிரம் முடிந்து இருக்கும் மக்களுக்கும் இடையூறு இருந்து இருக்காது. அப்படி செய்யாததின் விளைவை இப்பொழுது மக்கள் மற்றும் காவல்துறை அநுபவிக்கிறது.

சில நாட்களாக சென்னையில் மாலை வேளைகளில் மழை பெய்து வருகிறது. சென்னைக்கு மழை மிகவும் அவசியம், தண்ணீர் கஷ்டத்தினால். ஆனால் சென்னையின் தோண்டப்பட்ட சாலைகள் சகதி காடாக மாறி மக்களை பெரும் அவதிக்கு உள்ளாக்கி உள்ளது. தவறி விழுந்தால் முதல்வன் பட அர்ஜுன் ஆகிவிடுவோம்.

நூறு வருடங்களுக்கு முன்பு செய்து இருக்கவேண்டிய விஷயங்களை இப்போது தான் அதுவும் ஆறப்போட்டு செய்து கொண்டு உள்ளோம்.

என்று தான் நமக்கு விடிவு வருமோ !

Monday, July 09, 2007

Coorg - 3

Coorg - 2

The rain never stopped. After a crowded wet lunch we decided against going for trekking. Everyone had scared us about the Leeches and after this rain we thought it would be dangerous to venture into leech infested area. We ended up playing card games and watched rain batter outside. Then we attempted few other games like chinese whispers and went for dinner.

After dinner again game of cards and chit chat. Then everyone hit the damp bed with wind howling outside.

When we woke up the next morning the river level had risen and we decided against going to the waterfall. As it was raining continuosly we decided it would be better to start to bangalore to avoid any delayes because of flooded roads. We had our breakfast, packed our things and started towards the parking space which was a km away from the rooms. The path was again full of weeds and water. It was a scary walk.

As we reached the bus we were informed that the bus battery has drained and it is not starting. After pushing the bus here and there we were left exhausted. After some efforts to recharge the battery we started towards civilisation. It took us around8 hrs to reach Bangalore. After a great dinner near the station we boarded chennai mail and reached chennai at 4.30 AM.

Thus ended the journey to coorg.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Coorg - 2

Coorg - 1

As we stepped dpwn from the bus, the only thought on my mind was leeches. Before the start of the trip everybody warned of leeches during dry day but the way it was raining I was expecting leeches as in the movie Slither.

I was wearing a footwear which exposed my foot. It was drizzling when we got down. We were told we had to walk 5 mins to reach our rooms. I was expecting some kind of road. But finally found out we were asked to walk through a othayadi paathai both sides sorrounded by shrubs. Finally we were walking through empty field where water was stagnant till knuckle. It was like in the movie Anacondas 2 where they will be walking through the jungle. Only crocodile hunter will walk in such a place without fear. With each step n number of things under water sorrounded my foot and as I lifted water dripped down. We could see the rooms some kms away. The place looked like Cobras favorite place. Rain intensified on the way. We walked through that rain and finally reached one of the rooms.

When I was thinking things couldnt get worse than this we were pointed towards a hut which stood in the middle of a river and told few of us should stay there. With the rooms on this side being full. Few of us were left with no other choice than to move there.

We walked among knee deep water full of weeds and entered the hut and found out everything was very open about it. The caretaker told that the previoud night water almost came inside the hut and now water had receded and by tomorrow everything will be fine. But as if to prove him wrong rain intensified outside.

Given below is the picture of the hut.


Thursday, July 05, 2007

Coorg - 1

Last friday we started as a group to Coorg. We zeroed in on Coorg based on feedback from people who have been there before. Infact one of those guys accompanied us as well. So the plan was to go to Bangalore and from there take bus to Coorg.

All of us assembled in Chennai Central and took the 9.30 train to Mysore. We played cards for sometime made noise and irritated copassengers and then finally had whisper talks with lights off. Bangalore came at 4.30. Since we didnt have much choice all of us got down. Some of us used the waiting room restroom for freshening up. Had some coffee. Already we could feel the chill in the air. After n number of calls to the person who was arranging the bus finally the bus came and we all settled into the bus around 6.30 and thus started our long journey.

Some small games kept us occupied for some time inside the bus. Then we went to a near by hotel and had our breakfast. Then again the journey continued with Style song blaring through the bus speakers.

Slowly we could see the weather changing the we were entering the wet zone. From wet zone the bus was only moving into wetter zone. Finally we had a second stopover for some more coffee.

As our journey continued we could see flooded fields and water gushing through all canals. Our spirits were dampened and finally the bus started climbing the hill which made me dizzy. The bus went on and on as if there is no end.

Finally driver accepted he doesnt know the route and with our mobiles also not working we had a tough time. Atlast somehow we contacted the place where we had booked our rooms and they guided us to the final place.

As I got down from the bus the only though that was there in my mind was Leeches..

A Simple Plan and Just Mercy