Ganesh's Corner

Steve Jobs 1955-2011 - RIP

2011-10-06T07:38:00.000-04:00

Steve Jobs 1955-2011 - RIP

2011-10-06T07:36:00.000-04:00

http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/

Yummy Veggie Recipes -South Indian Style

2011-02-18T07:01:00.000-05:00

Came upon this website called Madapalli (means temple's kitchen -Vaishnavite term).
Do check it out, great recipes without onion and garlic.

Congenital Heart Walk - Phoenix Metro Area-November 7, 2010 – Diablo Stadium – 9 AM

2010-10-07T09:38:00.000-04:00

Congenital Heart Walk & 5K Run - Phoenix Metro Area

November 7, 2010 – Diablo Stadium – 9 AM

Folks

If you are living in Phoenix Metro area kindly join for this great cause.
You can also support the team otherwise. Please donate generously..

"ACHA support the hundreds of thousands of Americans who live with the challenges associated with a congenital heart defect. We walk to provide hope by raising vital dollars to continue our missions of services, programs, and cutting-edge research."

"The Congenital Heart Walk is a way to show the nation how a team of inspired individuals can make a difference. Funds raised support the missions of both these national non-profit organizations who are dedicated to improving the quality of life for those living with congenital heart defects (CHD)."

You can find more about this organization here

Endhiran/Robot/Robo

2010-10-02T00:47:00.002-04:00

Just came back from theater.. dumbstruck, never thought Indian/Tamil movie could reach such heights.
Endhiran/Robo/Robot is the movie of the year without doubt.

All I can say is it's a magical movie experience.
First true Sci-Fi movie for the Indian mass.
From now on any sci-fi/spectacle movies from India will judged as BE/AE (Before and After Endhiran).
If you have never watched Super Star Rajinikanth movies, this is the movie you don't want to miss.
Go to the theater and experience it. Miss it at your own risk... I don't think you will see such spectacle from Indian cinema in a while..

More detailed review later...

Endhiran/Enthiran/Robot/Robo Reviews from around the World!

2010-09-30T18:22:00.011-04:00

Get ready folks

Verdict is out... It's a Super duper Hit !!

Robo/Endhiran/Enthiran - Rave reviews from all the leading Bollywood critics and dailies...

Glowing reviews from North Indian media keeps pouring. I think this is a first time south Indian movie is getting this kind of attention and adulation.. wow..

Go to this blog to read all the reviews, this is the first a Rajnikanth/Shankar film is getting this type of attention.

Times of India gives 4/5

IBN Rajeev Masand -"Thoroughly enjoyed Robot. Wish it were shorter, but greatly admire the imagination & ambition of the dir. Shamelessly good fun. Rajni rocks!"

NDTV - Anupama Chopra- " Robot is a riot. Nothing in Bollywood matches the visual of hundreds of Rajinikanths forming a snake. Full review tomorrow on NDTV."

Taran Adarsh "Watched 'Robot'. Falling short of words to praise the film. Rajnikant is The BOSS. The real BAADSHAAH."

PankajSabnani - "Just watched Rajnikanth's 'Robot'. It's excellent. Review tomorrow."

Aniruddha Guha - "Jus bak frm a #Robot screening. Wat a brilliant film! Shankar's vision n Rajni's histrionics come together in 1 of r best films

its like nothin u've ever seen before in an Indian film"

Galata - Amazing Rajini Shankar creation

Endhiran review from Reva TV reporter from Malay

Here is IBN live feed of special press show - This reporter goes gaga over Robot/Endhiran...

Another review from Envazhi

Interesting take on Endhiran from Amuthan Vinayakam from London

Note: These reviews don't have any spoilers.

Enhiran official Long Trailer !!

2010-07-31T16:20:00.004-04:00

Here it is Endhiran trailer, rocking!!

Making of Endhiran...

2010-03-08T10:07:00.001-05:00

Jolly Jams | Music Upload

Few Good Things.. Movies

2009-10-30T16:14:00.005-04:00

If you are a movie buff like me and tired of watching same old masala and hollywood packaged themes then I would recommend you to watch the followings ones for a change. I got to watch some of these awesome movies mainly thanks to Netflix and Roku.

The combination of Roku and Netflix is really addictive.

1. Evil (Ondskan) [2003] (From Sweden)

One of the best Swedish movies I have watched in recent times. Based on best-selling novel, this Swedish movie follows life of rebellious teenager Erik. To me this movie captures the heart and determination of living in a world where evil reigns and the underdog must choose to stand up or take it. It’s a compelling examination of violence vs. passive resistance.

No wonder this movie won the Oscar for the best foreign film for 2003.

2. Let the Right one in (Låt den rätte komma in) [2008]

Another awesome movie from Sweden. This movie was recommended to me by my friend. I am not a big fan of Vampire movies as it has been done to death in Hollywood so many times. But this one was so different; it is not a Hollywood production. No, I am not fan of Twilight. Even though this movie has all the vampire elements once you get past that, this is the story of two lonely and desperate kids capable of performing dark deeds without apparent emotion. Having watched lot of vampire movies, this one goes to top of my list.

I am now officially a big fan of Swedish movies..

3. Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno) [2006] (Mexico)

I started watching this movie thinking that this is another children fairy tale movie. Boy I was so wrong. This was a very well made movie that combines the innocent imagination of a child, with the horrors of the darkest parts of humanity. The story take place in 1944 when a 10 year old Ofelia, beautifully played by Ivana Baquero and her pregnant mother moves in with her tyrannical fascist stepfather. It’s no fairy tale and not a children’s movie. Director Del Toro, yes the same guy who directed Hell Boy has brilliantly directed this one. He beautifully integrates the story of suffering through a Child’s imagination. It’s an Oscar-winning fairy tale for grown-ups. Another highlight of the movie was the haunting score of Javier Navarrete.

My Blog makeover

2009-10-29T16:10:00.003-04:00

Finally after a long gap, I decided to give my blog some make over.
Let me know how you like this one..

One Giant Thud for the Mankind !!

2009-10-09T06:25:00.003-04:00

Today NASA Two NASA spacecraft are heading toward the moon at twice the speed of a bullet, to crash into a lunar crater in a search for ice.

The first and much bigger crash is set for 7:31 a.m. EDT.

The idea is to confirm the theory that water exists — I hope it does.

Wishing this endeavor a great success.

You can watch it live at NASA TV

Congrats to Mr.Venkatraman Ramakrishnan !!

2009-10-07T09:36:00.008-04:00

Congrats to Mr.Venkatraman Ramakrishnan for winning the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry of Life.

Wishing You All A Happy Saraswathi and Vijayadasami Pooja

2009-09-27T08:46:00.002-04:00

Celebrating this wonderful day with an inspiring performance of Navavarnam by Wesleyan University Students.

A rare clip of Rajni as himself about Marriage!

2009-09-25T11:30:00.003-04:00

A rare moment of Rajni appearing as himself in a movie.
I am not sure about the movie name. Can anyone guess this one?

Roger Federer's best point ever !!

2009-09-14T13:17:00.003-04:00

The video says it all. Roger simply rules... of course with a little help from lady luck.

Happy Onam- Onaashmsakal to all

2009-08-27T22:21:00.001-04:00

India Got Talent -Extraordinary Act by Prince Dance Group

2009-08-24T23:39:00.007-04:00

Just watch it..
They won the competition which they richly deserved it.
One good thing about this kind of show is that occasionally they do bring out some amazing talent which otherwise would never get this kind of appreciation .
And these boy's story is even amazing from slums of Orissa to glory..

God bless them..

Link
Pauper Prince conquers India

Their Semi Final act

And their final act which won them competition.

Velvet

2009-08-19T23:31:00.003-04:00

I did this small track last weekend. More work is needed on this one, planning to make this a song track. Love to have your feedback on this.
Velvet | Online recorder

Amazing and Moving Sand Animation!!

2009-08-14T14:22:00.003-04:00

I saw this on youtube this is from Ukraine got talent show.

This just blew me away so beautiful and amazing artistry!!

So be prepared to be blown away by this one..

Dreams - Revived

2009-08-03T23:43:00.002-04:00

Dreams | Music Upload

I composed this track back in 2006. My very first song using Roland Fantom X.

Your feedback is much appreciated.

Emotions new instrumental track

2009-07-21T13:09:00.002-04:00

Emotions | Music Upload

I managed to squeeze some free time to compose this small track.
It's based on Sarasangi raga.

Let me know how you like it.

Yaradhu Yaro

2009-07-20T23:06:00.002-04:00

I love this song Yaradhu Yaro from the movie Yathumaagi by James Vasanthan.
After a long time nice song to listen to. It's based on Atana Ragam, kind of similar to the classic movie song 'Yaar tharuvar indha' from Kalidas.

6

Twinkle Twinkle Desi Style !!

2009-07-13T18:54:00.003-04:00

This is a laugh riot. No wonder already 1 million has viewed this.
I wonder which Tamil serial this one is from?
The person singing in this clip is Mrs. Revathy Sankaran.

You can watch and listen to more of her songs at
http://www.youtube.com/user/shanksterjay

King of Pop Lives on Forever !!

2009-06-26T16:02:00.010-04:00

King of Pop Michael Jackson dominating the cyberspace. And his music toping charts on iTunes and Amazon.

Here is Yahoo's tribute to MJ - Yahoo Breaking its own record in searches with MJ

Amazon's Top 25 dominated by Michael

Michael Jackson dominates iTunes world wide

Google, Twitter, Myspace, Yahoo you name it he is everywhere..

I don't think this phenomenon going to be repeated for any other artist. Such is the unique star power of the one and only Michael Jackson, his music will live on forever...

Click Here to listen to Exclusive All Michael Jackson special.

HT: AOL/CBS Radio

Michael Jackson - New Music - More Music Videos

Hat Tip: MTV
To Watch All your favourites MJ's Video click here

Michael Jackson -King of Pop - RIP

2009-06-25T18:53:00.010-04:00

We will miss you MJ. RIP
The Greatest Entertainer Ever...

The Life of Michael Jackson: Complete Video...

Shared via AddThis

Mothers are precious regardless of species!!

2009-05-15T10:48:00.002-04:00

Amazing Dog ,protects it's mom, touching indeed.

Man on Wire

2009-05-04T23:05:00.007-04:00

I don't get that much free time nowadays. As you can see this blog has not been updated in a while. Well more on that later. I recently had a chance to watch this documentary/movie. I was blown away by it. The movie was about tightrope walker Philippe Petit and his daring, at the same time illegal attempt to walk between the World trade center back in 1974.

Director James Marsh has done an amazing job of recreating the actual events along with actual footage. The documentary was slickly edited, it's like watching a heist movie, it had all the ingredients of a superb thriller. So did he walk between the towers and at what cost ?!!
No spoiler here ..

So when you get a chance watch it, it's available in netflix.

Here's a trailer of the movie

Dance Dance Birds can Dance!!

2009-05-01T07:56:00.003-04:00

Birds can dance!!. He sure has sense of rhythm. Amazing indeed.

Click here to read more about this

Yes He Does it - ARR wins Oscar

2009-02-22T22:57:00.007-05:00

AR Rahman wins Oscar

The Mozart of Madras rules..

Congratulations Sir !! What a great news for India and Indian musicians, ARR breaks the ceiling for all Indian composers and musicians

எல்லா புகழும் இறைவனுக்கே !!

Update: Four years back I wrote about A R Rahmanji in this very blog, it's a great joy all that has come true.

And congratulations to Resul Pookutty for being the first Indian to win Oscar in the sound engineering and editing category.

Gajananam !!

2009-02-19T23:31:00.006-05:00

After a long break (with a new born you don't have much free time),
I recently had some free time (30 mins, to be precise) to spare.
I came up with this one. It's more like a jam session with my keyboard.

The entire track was played and recorded using Roland Fantom X.
As always your constructive feedback is much appreciated.

Gajananam | Upload Music

Danger from Above -Amazing video

2009-02-16T08:29:00.001-05:00

This is an amazing video from the prey's perspective, the poor fish never saw it coming..

Will be back after a break!!

2009-01-21T15:57:00.003-05:00

I am right now overwhelmed with my son feeding and diaper changes so... see you all later.

Presidential Inauguration Ceremony Live

2009-01-16T17:17:00.002-05:00

It's a Boy!!

2009-01-12T02:10:00.001-05:00

Happ New Year !!

2008-12-31T23:58:00.001-05:00

May the new year bring happiness and prosperity to everyone.

God Bless

Monks and Tigers !!

2008-12-18T21:36:00.005-05:00

These are some amazing pictures. For more info about this Buddhist monastery called as the Tiger Temple in Thailand click here
If you are wondering how did tigers and wild animals came to this monastery here is the link
They also have some great pictures of the tigers there.
The compassion of the Buddhist monks are commendable.

Bollywood Musical Journey-Concert by Washington Sruthi

2008-12-04T20:49:00.009-05:00

Washington Shruti will be performing at Oakton high School, VA on Dec 6th 2008 5:30-10 pm.
This is an Art of Living event, proceeds go to 'Care for Children' a program to support education for underprivileged children.
So if you are living in DC metro area please do try to attend this function.
For more event details and tickets click here or here

Fellow Bloggers Sam (Keyboards) and Anup (Lead Guitar) will also be playing in this event.
As far myself I will be managing the sound and live mixing for this event.

Dog saves road-injured Dog-Amazing Video!!

2008-12-03T22:36:00.004-05:00

With so many bad news all around us, this one warmed my heart.
This happens to be a kind dog, who said animals don't have feelings. See this video ..
The heroic canine runs into traffic and drags the severely injured dog out of harm's way. Rather unbelievable.

Our Indian politicians can learn a thing or two from this amazing dog. Especially the 'cheap minister' of kerala V S Achuthanandan should watch this. I am sure even dogs all over the world would have felt insulted by that man's words.

India's politicians!!

2008-12-01T21:05:00.004-05:00

They will never accept their mistake.
Think only in terms of vote bank.
Keep making the same mistake and play with civilians life. After all they get the top security not the ordinary man why bother.

So it's no wonder CM of Kerala Achuthanandan made this statement ''But for slain major, not even a dog will visit his house'' when the father of slain Major Sandeep refused to meet with politicians.

So much for the CM from the India's top literate state.

There are more questions then answers. I don't have any hope from this present government.
On top of this we have this news that US warned India about such attack.

Be scared be really scared about India's future.

Yadha raja thadha praja.

Mumbai under Siege -When this will ever stop!!

2008-11-26T18:22:00.004-05:00

This is really horrendous, how many more innocent lives need to be lost to make this Indian government to act tough on terror. Unfortunately history has shown that India has become a soft state. If Indian Government really cares about its citizens, it will act tough on terrorist without playing politics. And it's high time for Shivraj Patel to resign as home minister. And hand over it to someone capable and tough.

Rex: A music Savan'ts amazing story!!

2008-11-24T11:17:00.002-05:00

This is one amazing piece, really touching and inspiring at the same time.

RIP Shri M N Nambiyar

2008-11-19T21:22:00.005-05:00

1919-2008

One of the best villain and a legend of Tamil Film industry passed away today at age of 90.
Even though he was portrayed as great villain in Tamil films,
in real life he lead a simple and spiritual life. A great devotee of Lord Ayyappa and respected Maha Guru swami.

May his Soul rest in peace.

Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa

Links:
The Hindu
Rediff

History Happens -President Elect Barack Obama!!

2008-11-04T23:11:00.008-05:00

History happens- Obama wins. 44th President of United States.
Change is here !!

Once again America proves why it is the greatest nation on this planet. For all the politics and differences the country is united in celebrating democracy.

Image:Courtesy Fox News, ABC News

Stranger buys foreclosed home for woman on hard times

2008-10-28T09:37:00.006-04:00

Marilyn Mock is a true angel indeed, especially in this day and age. There is still hope for humanity.

Hee Ah Lee- Amazing Pianist

2008-10-17T11:47:00.006-04:00

With so much bad news going on watching this made my day...

Clip Courtesy: CNN,KARE

The Final Debate!!

2008-10-15T23:12:00.002-04:00

Finally the debate I was waiting for, well fought one on economy and policies. Both candidates clearly highlighted their policies and differences.

So who won the debate ?!..

Without a doubt

Joe The Plumber !!

Way to go Joe!! Time for Hollywood agents to go after this guy!!

Brand New Stock Terms

2008-10-08T11:45:00.002-04:00

Hat tip to The Big Picture for posting this funny one.

Well humor goes a long way to ease things up a little bit in these stressful times.

With the current financial status, looks like these are the new stock terms going round in the wall street.

CEO --Chief Embezzlement Officer.

CFO-- Corporate Fraud Officer.

BULL MARKET -- A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.

BEAR MARKET -- A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.

VALUE INVESTING -- The art of buying low and selling lower.

P/E RATIO -- The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing.

BROKER -- What my broker has made me.

STANDARD & POOR -- Your life in a nutshell.

STOCK ANALYST -- Idiot who just downgraded your stock.

STOCK SPLIT -- When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally between themselves.

FINANCIAL PLANNER -- A guy whose phone has been disconnected.

MARKET CORRECTION -- The day after you buy stocks.

CASH FLOW -- The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.

YAHOO -- What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.

WINDOWS -- What you jump out of when you're the sucker who bought Yahoo @ $240 per share.

INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR -- Past year investor who's now locked up in a nuthouse.

PROFIT -- An archaic word no longer in use.

WHY!? WHY!?

2008-10-07T14:27:00.002-04:00

WHY!? WHY!?

A sign of desperate times?!

This news really brought tears to my eyes. Why would someone want to make his family pay the highest price for the mistakes of his own? How could any father, loving husband have the heart to do this? However hard the financial stress may be is it worth the life of your family?

What kind of honor/code that says it’s okay to kill everyone of your family because you lost some money?!

I think its high time Indian communities and temples need to have some kind of counseling and spiritual healing. Especially help people to cope in what seems to be increasingly unfriendly world.

Money comes and goes but love and family is forever.

My prayers go out to Mr. Rajaram family, friends, and neighbors. ...

Peace

Meet the Czar of $700 Billion!!

2008-10-06T19:21:00.006-04:00

Mr. Neel Kashkari, Former Goldman Sachs Executive, is the man incharge of $700 Billion Bailout. The 35-year-old Kashkari is a former Goldman Sachs Inc. banker, the investment giant once headed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The new office was created by the emergency legislation enacted Friday to fund the largest government bailout in history. If you are wondering about his last name yes his parents are from Kashmir, India.

பின்கூறிப்பு: அய்யா நீல் நீங்க அருமையான மொட்டை போட்டுயிருகீங்க உண்மைதான். ஆனா அதுக்காக மக்கள் வரி பணத்தையும் சேர்த்து மொட்டைபொட்டுடாதீங்க பாஸ்!!

Didn't Fail just got bought over ?!!

2008-09-29T13:29:00.005-04:00

Wondering what those terms mean in the present take over business that's going on in the Wall Street. Hey all those banks/Wall Street didn't fail they just got bought over thats all. Huh?!! yeah right!!

The latest one being as expected earlier Citigroup is to take over Wachovia.

And if you are a Wachovia customer like me and wondering what's going to happen to your account(s) here is the Wachovia FAQ. You may want to check that link.

Massive Bailout!!

2008-09-19T19:11:00.006-04:00

Folks, I know I have been posting on this, but things are getting scary so this is just my personal rantings. Looks like coming Monday Feds are going to announce some massive bailouts.

we are talking about 100 billions dollars of tax payers money to end this crisis as much as $1 trillion. Meaning US Govt will purchase virtually worthless mortgage-backed investments that have been plaguing Wall Street and the U.S. economy for months.

The rule is simple when it comes to profits/earnings the Wall St Cats will take . And all the stupid decisions of theirs and risks fall on the shoulders of tax payers on the main street.

Great going !! :(

Crash of the Titans!!

2008-09-18T06:58:00.005-04:00

This turning out be a real bad week. First, Lehman Brothers tumbled into bankruptcy, followed by Merrill Lynch's shotgun sale to Bank of America and the government's $85 billion bailout of insurer American International Group.

Poor tax payers!!.. A.I.G. is borrowing the Fed’s money on expensive terms, and it must pay it off within two years. Well that's a relief heh?
I don't know when this is going to end. I hope we have reached the bottom. As I write this, Wachovia is looking at Morgan Stanley for merger to come out their mess.

Money market funds have been among the few places that investors could put their cash and sleep peacefully. But with this kind of financial crunch even that is not safe...
What, in today’s world, is truly safe?

Just look at the bail outs
Bear Stearns - $29 billion
Fannie & Freddie - $200 billion
AIG -$85 billion

How long can they keep doing this ? How are they going to keep raising funds for these?

New Jerry Seinfield and Bill Gates Ad - Yawn !!

2008-09-05T15:29:00.006-04:00

In an attempt to reclaim Windows image, Microsoft is coming up with ad blitz involving top pop icons. And the first one is with Jerry Seinfeld check it for yourselves.
It didn't work for me they looked like to two odd couples. No Chemistry whatsoever.
Off late Microsoft seems to mess up things in their execution this one being no exception.

So what do you think of this one and does it make sense?

Google's Chrome !!

2008-09-02T16:48:00.007-04:00

Just now I downloaded the beta version of Google’s new browser Chrome.

Very simple interface with what now have become standard features of a browser that is multi tabs, importing your bookmarks etc. What’s interesting though with this one is if one your browser tab crashes whole browser doesn’t crash down instead the only the affected tab closes, thanks to multi process browsing. Talking about tabs, unlike IE and FF, Chrome puts the tabs on top of the browser window above the address bar. The dynamic tab is really cool. You can drag and drop tabs one over the other or as a separate window.

Another cool feature is incognito or the stealth browsing mode that allows you to browse without logging your browsing and download histories. But remember the websites you visit will still have records of your visit. And all your saved downloads will still remain in your pc.

Chrome also shows your recent visited sites in nice thumbnails. Cool heh? But this was done long back by opera.

And regarding memory I think FF uses lesser memory than Google chrome. The Chrome browser itself uses about 75MB now if you open few tabs 5 to be precise , the total memory is around 200MB for the same with FF it was just around 100MB so hopefully this will be sorted out.

No add-ons feature as of now.

Since it’s only a beta version some websites might not display properly. So unless you’re a power browser user/developer I would say wait for the bigger better power version of chrome.

Of course this is just the beginning we will be seeing better version of chrome very soon, well hopefully.

How this will affect Mozilla’s and Internet Explorer's market share, we will soon know the answer to that question.

Let the browser war begin..

To download Chrome go here

Happy Janmashtami/Sri Krishna Jayanthi

2008-08-23T19:32:00.003-04:00

Wish You All A Very Happy Janmashtami.

Here is a beautiful song to celebrate the day.

Song: Jaya Krishna Mukunda Murare
Singer: M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar

From Godhavari to Google -Inspiring Story of Naga Naresh Karuturi

2008-07-31T15:12:00.003-04:00

Nowadays I am really scared to read newspapers, it is just so depressing.

But once in a while you read upon something that's moving and inspiring.
Once such story that I read about is Naga Naresh amazing young man indeed.
Coming up from a poor background with uneducated parents is tough enough for anyone, Naresh also had to over come disability too. But nothing has deterred this young man. To quote the article "Ever smiling, optimistic and full of spirit; that is Naresh. He says, "God has always been planning things for me. That is why I feel I am lucky."

Such a positive force and his belief in people

‘There are more good people in society than bad ones’

This story made my day. Hopefully it also inspires you.

Click here to read the full article

Source: Rediff

Kuselan Brand New Trailer !!

2008-07-23T10:41:00.002-04:00

Reality Check?!

2008-07-14T12:15:00.005-04:00

Gas Price – Up and Up and Away …

Food Prices – UP …

Stocks and Funds – Down

Housing Market – (Melt)-Down

Financial Industry – Messed up (Govt. bailout for Fan and Fred, no such luck for Indy). How many more to go down ? God knows...

And Life is ------ (You fill up the blanks as appropriate)

Geez..

Ah Well.., back to the fantasy world of Movies, Celebrity Wars and Sightings and musings...

Update: Washington Post posted a online question answer session about the safety of bank deposits, what the FDIC insures and what you can do if your bank fails. Check it out

Useful Link: What to Know About Your Accounts

Bollywood Rules in -So You Think You can Dance

2008-07-10T12:49:00.014-04:00

OMG never under estimate the reach of Bollywood. Who would have thought about featuring a proper bollywood dance in So You Think You Can Dance show ?!.

This season they have some terrific dancers. It's no wonder that both Joshua and Katee was able to nail this one perfectly. Considering the fact they had only few days to learn a totally new style of dance routine that too something like Indian dance. Well done Joshua and Katee.

And a great job by choreographers Nakul and Mala.
They choose the right steps and movements to bring in the Indian Dance essence so to speak.

Judge for yourselves..

Video: Hat Tip Rohan Pinto

Song: Dhoom thaana
Movie Om Shanti Om
choreographed by Nakul Dev Mahajan
Links: Nakul Mahajans' Dance School.

What Every Man want's in Bed !!?

2008-07-09T14:34:00.004-04:00

Do you agree with this ?!!

Wipe out and Majide!!

2008-07-01T22:01:00.004-04:00

Just when you thought reality game shows can’t get any crazier, then comes Abc’s Wipe out and ‘I survived a Japanese Game Show’.

Both of them unique in their own way. Wipeout involves participants involved in some crazy stunts much more intense than Survivor or Fear Factor.

And I’ survived a Japanese Game Show is another very interesting game show that involves participants flown to Tokyo as Gamers in a crazy Japanese show. But I have my own doubt if it's really a Japanese game or just a show customized for American audience.

It will interesting to see how the Indian version will be ?!

Go Majide!!

Wall-E -Review

2008-06-29T22:47:00.006-04:00

Saw Wall-E on Friday with family and friends. I am a big fan of Pixar and have most of their movies in my DVD collection. Just when you thought how Pixar would out do Ratatouille they again break new boundaries with Wall-E. And without doubt best of Pixar's movies till date.

With this movie Pixar has established a de facto standard when it comes to animation. Wall-E is easily one of the best comedy/romantic and family adventure to hit theaters this summer. Off late too many animation movies are out there with all Jazz and no meaningful stories.

In fact with Wall-E both Disney and Pixar has taken a risk with this unusual approach of a story line that many critics wondered if it will fly through the audience. But I can tell you when I watched the movie on Friday the whole theater was cheering for the tiny robot. Director and writer Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) has done his magic again.

So what's the story about?

Imagine what happens if human beings left Earth that has become a junkyard only that they forgot to switch off the last robot?

The movie works at so many levels dealing with excessive consumerism and ecological disregard for our environment. But the best thing is it doesn't sound preachy. At the same time is able to please audience of different ages. All in all it's a must see family movie.

Final verdict: Wall-E is a WOWIE 5 Stars!!

Also check out Pixar's blog

Goodbye and Good luck Bill

2008-06-26T14:23:00.012-04:00

This coming Friday Bill Gates will leave Microsoft for good after 33 years of amazing work. Love him or hate him Bill Gates certainly leaves a mark in the PC world. It’s amazing how this small company that was started in 1975 by Harvard College dropout Bill and his friend Paul Allen has come to dominate the world of technology.

I personally think the genius of Bill Gates is not just the ability to know about stuff and grasp of technology. Rather his genius lies in understanding the market. And he knew how to advance and press his products in the mind of consumers and business alike. Any product however good they may be would go nowhere without smart marketing and PR. He always got that right. If today every house on the earth has a PC well almost, all is due to this man. Even though some in media and his rivals try to portray him as some mean spirited guy, Bill is also well known for his philanthropy. After leaving Microsoft, he is going to spend more time with his charitable foundation.

It will be interesting to see how life will be at Microsoft without this man. Will there be another Bill Gates in the near future? Only the future will tell.

So thank you Bill Gates for Windows, Word, Excel etc and also for making the IT industry interesting.
As far as his legacy goes well it’s only a click away.

Links:
Microsoft

Federer’s Toughest Challenge till Date

2008-06-24T10:39:00.003-04:00

[Image courtesy of Tennis.com]

This year Wimbledon is going to be very interesting. Roger Federer's position as No.1 is clearly challenged by both Nadal and Djokovic. Especially after his worst loss to Nadal in the French Open.

Most of the pundits predicting that this year he won’t be winning it. If you read some of their columns it is as if he is pretty much done?. Of course him winning 5 of them in a row doesn’t count to these pundits. I hope Federer prove these naysayers wrong.

Go Roger Go!!

http://www.rogerfederer.com/en/index.cfm

Fire Fox 3 and Opera 9.5!!

2008-06-20T15:57:00.004-04:00

I downloaded the new fire fox version 3 on June 17^th. One thing that was noticeable right away was that Firefox 3 is much faster than Firefox 2. Thanks to the new Gekko 1.9 engine.

Firefox 2 used to crash a lot; so far Firefox 3 hasn’t done anything like that. The new Firefox 3 comes in with lot of goodies. It has restore session, built-in spell check and integrated search etc. Another new feature is smart location bar/The Awesome bar (Fancy name for the good old address bar). Every time you type in a URL it will automatically search through your browser history and presents a drop-down list of recently accessed pages with that same keyword. Download manager where you manage your downloads with pause and resume. You can also search past downloads.

And most importantly security related features are part of the build, which means you have the best of antiphishing protection. And best of all it is free and available on variety of OS.

And one more thing is unlike IE Firefox doesn’t’ require a system reboot.

As far as speed is concerned I still think Safar is much faster than Firefox and other browsers.

Opera also has release its new version 9.5 I also like Opera, many of the features that we expect as standard features in a browser such as tab, mouse gestures, integrated search box, session saver all came from Opera much before any other browser. And top it with a killer interface. But the major turn off for me is that most of website are built around with IE and Firefox, doesn’t work well with Opera. That’s a shame considering all those cool features you get with opera. But Opera is now positioning themselves as mobile browser. Opera is the first mobile browser to pass the Acid 2 test.

But one important thing to note is Firefox no longer supports Windows 95, 98 and Me.

Note: Tipping point reported vulnerability in the new version in Firefox 3 around 5 hours after its release. What a Bummer!! But it require users initiative so stay away from shady links..

If you are still using IE, it’s time for you to get with rest of the world

Click here to get the Fire Fox 3 or try Opera 9.5

Super Star is back -with Kuselan on July 25th!!

2008-06-19T07:06:00.010-04:00

That says it all ....

Check out his avatars :) here
Telugu version is here

Dasavatharam a review of reviews

2008-06-16T10:30:00.010-04:00

Now that Dasavatharam, the much hyped up movie has been released, blogosphere is flooded with reviews. Unfortunately I happened to read some of these so called reviews. Oh boy in the name of reviewing some of these bloggers are pretty much describing the movie scene by scene giving the entire plot away. Why can’t they review the movie without giving away the plot? Anyway I am not planning to watch the movie in theaters. There is no way I am paying $20/ticket to watch the movie in a crappy theater with lousy sound system. I think desi distributors are getting over greedy. I will wait for the DVD.

And I am also skeptical with these over hyped movies especially after the debacle of Sivaji and Billa. Instead I took my family to watch Kunfu Panda, very enjoyable kids’ movie.

I used to be a big time Kamal fan, those where the days; religiously following Thalaivar’s hair style dress code etc. Now I am just a fan of good movies that’s all.

The last Kamal movie I saw in theater was Vettaiyadu Velaiyadu. I was in for a shock, to see my favorite screen icon turning up as over bloated sagging old man. The make up didn’t help at all.

The worst part was in the acting department no expressions in his face.

As if he had Botox. Perhaps he wasn’t interested in the project or something went wrong.

Or is it just me who can’t face up the fact that my favorite actor is after all a human who happens to go through cycle of time just like rest of us. I wish both Kamal and Rajini takes up role like Big B that suite their age. Thankfully they don’t play the college dudes anymore.

Anyway getting back to the topic these are the only reviews at least in my personal opinion were good and make an interesting read.

In no particular order

Ten Questions by Lazy Geek

Dasavatharam - The Butterfly Effect by Robbiezaps

Dasavatharam – by Prabhu Karthik

Dasavatharam and the Art of Disguises by Maami’s Web log

(Maami’s has an interesting take on Kamal himself)

Kamal X Kamal - Interesting review by Baskar in News Today (Towards end he gives away the plot so read only the first half of it)

And finally our own sirippu mannan Praveen's review of the movie- As always had me rolling on the floor.

To me personally Sagarasangamam/Salangai Oli is still one of the best movies of Kamalji.

Ouch no power !!

2008-06-05T16:41:00.003-04:00

After almost 8 years, here we are an entire day spent with No Television, No Computer, No black berry and phone. Nice Candle light dinner and cuddled together. Well before you let your imagination run wild, I was just trying to put a positive spin on the power outage here. Whining you say?!

If you are from Chennai like me, you know it's nothing, especially during summertime; power outage is such a common affair. But as kids we were never bothered with it. In fact it was fun with all local kids playing together and telling stories, but those were the old days...

But the reality now is we have lost power here since yesterday 3:00pm due to heavy thunder storms in around DC suburbs. As of now we haven’t got any power. This is first time I have faced such long power outage here in US. The last time it happened was in 2003, which lasted for 5 days, I heard. But that time I was abroad on vacation.

Let’s see how long this one lasts.

Well may be I can practice on my flute with few gallons of gas saved!

Sameer Mishra is the new Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion-2008

2008-05-30T22:24:00.004-04:00

Finally after 4 years, Sameer Mishra from Lafayette, Indiana comes out in top.
Congrats to Sameer and his sister and coach Shruti.

Links: Scripps National Spelling Bee

New Instrumental Tracks

2008-05-21T15:55:00.007-04:00

It's been a while since I have posted new songs. After a long break, here is two of my new instrumental tracks.

The Voyage - I wanted to compose something that is little ambient as well as funky. You be the judge of it.

The Freak - This small piece happened while I was composing a melody but instead ended up with this one. This track is less than 30 seconds hope it gets your attention.

Both these songs were sequenced using Fantom X built in sequencer , I didn't use external DAW.

Your feed back will be most appreciated.

Holy Cow !!

2008-05-16T16:25:00.004-04:00

Check out this huge cow Chilli from Somerset, England he is 6'6 and weighs more than a ton.

Dasavatharam - courting controversy?

2008-05-07T21:31:00.009-04:00

Kamal Hassan’s latest movie is now getting all kinds of attention especially from religious group.

Blogger Kannabiran Ravi Shankar aka KRS has dissected the movie from the trailers, songs, promotional clips and stills ?

KRS says Kamal has twisted the truth and played with historical facts?

Mainly with regards to the conflicts between Shaivaites and Vaishnavites.

I have just seen the trailer only once. The trailer doesn’t give away much except for the fact that Kamal appears in 10 different roles with one prominent Vaishnavite role?

Kamal and controversy always go hand in hand?

First Hey Ram then Sandiyar aka Virumandi and now Dasavatharam following the same route. Let's see how this one turns out ?

Note: KRS blogs in Tamil so if you can’t’ read Tamil sorry!!

While we are at this topic here is another useful read by blogger Mrs. Jayasree saranathan who writes about the spiritual aspects of the cosmic unity between Siva and Vishnu.

The Earth Day

2008-04-22T09:26:00.009-04:00

Today is World Earth Day and a time to remind ourselves that the climate change is becoming a serious reality. Let’s save our precious Big Blue

The Earth Song by Michael Jackson

You can share your ideas to combat climate change with other fellow Googlers click here

Click on the links below to learn more about Earth Day

http://www.earthday.gov/

http://www.epa.gov/earthday/

http://earthday.envirolink.org/

Happy Tamil New Year/ Vishu Ashamsakal

2008-04-12T21:42:00.005-04:00

My Vishu Ashamsakal to one and all.

மகிழ்ச்சி பொங்க செல்வம் செழிக்க அனைவருக்கும் இனிய தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள்.

One of the biggest disadvantages of being away from India is felt prominently during such festivals. In our house we celebrate both Tamizh New Year and Vishu with equal fervor. The above video brought back so much of my childhood memories.

Thanks to http://www.indiavideo.org for the video clip.

The Blind Painter

2008-04-02T15:19:00.003-04:00

I want to start off this month’s post with something more positive and inspiring.

Watch this amazing painter and his works; it is hard to believe this person is blind. He says he learnt to paint things by touch.

This youtube video won the 2007 youtube video awards in the inspirational category.

Clip courtesy:
Texascountyreporter

RIP: Arthur C. Clarke

2008-03-18T22:55:00.011-04:00

(16th, December,1917- 19th March 2008)

One of the best known science fiction writer ever Sir Arthur C Clarke passed away in Srilanka, his adopted home country. He was 90. A huge loss for all science lovers.

Arthur C Clarke, The author, scientist, space expert and underwater diver was one of the most prolific and renowned science-fiction writers, publishing more than 30 novels, at least 13 short-story collections and 28 works of non-fiction.
He was considered as technological seer and godfather of telecommunications satellite.

His most famous novel and my personal favourite was "2001: A Space Odyssey," which was also then filmed by brilliant Stanley Kubrick. It's a must read for every science fiction reader.

Clarke was a visionary, many of the stuff he has written like Space Travel, Bioengineering, Artificial Intelligence, geostationary satellites and other stuff that has now become scientific reality.

If you have never seen or read 2001 space odyssey click here to watch it in flash video form. And do watch the movie or read it.

Here is a speech given by Mr. Clarke on his 90th birthday.

Sir Arthur C Clarke: 90th Birthday Reflections

Goodbye Sir.. wherever you are , peace be with you.

Links:
http://www.clarkefoundation.org/
http://www.arthurcclarke.net/

Super Singers !!

2008-03-12T21:05:00.008-04:00

One of the recent programs that I have been watching kind of regularly is Asianet’s Idea super singer and Amrita TV’s Super Star Global. Both these programs have featured some amazing singers. After watching these two programs, I am now really convinced that in South, Kerala has got the best voices. And even more impressive point is the backing orchestra, especially the string section is just amazing !!

Perfection is the only word that comes to my mind.

My favorite singers from these two programs

Check it out..

Singer: Roopa

Song: Gangai Karai Mannadi

Movie: Varshum Pathinaaru

Music: Illayaraja

Singer: Durga Viswanath

Song: Vedam

Movie: Salangai Oli

Music: Illayaraja

Singer: Najim Arshad

Song: Mandiram

Movie: Avarampoo

Music: Ilayaraja

Thanks to ttp://www.youtube.com/user/amidalaneboo for the clips.

The Name is Rajnikanth

2008-03-07T16:25:00.007-05:00

This is not another block buster movie from Rajnikanth, but his biography penned by Dr. Gayathri Srikanth, ophthalmologist by profession. The book is supposed to look at his life from a third person’s perspective. Now, anything with Rajnikanth name on it sells, so no wonder the first print itself was 20,000 copies.

I read in one of the magazine that Kamal Hassan has already read the book and have appreciated the author for her unique and truthful approach.

More than anything what intrigued me towards this book is one of the following excerpt from the book

“Visiting that Ragavendra temple in Bangalore is almost more than a routine for her. She has not seen him ever before in the temple.

He was sitting on the floor with his closed eyes, folded legs and locked fingers in ‘Gnana Mudra’. He looked strange and different with a turban on his head and the very long flowing beard. Some thing was there in his face that attracted her. She could not understand what that was.

She finished her ‘darshan’ and came out; she saw the man was walking in the corridor. Again something was happening in her, she could not understand what was that. She was telling herself, “a poor old man. I have to help him”. She ran to him, gave rupees ten in his hand and forced him to accept. He smiled, expressed a reverence like a ‘prasadam’ by keeping it in the forehead and thanked her by keeping the hand in prayer position (‘Namasthey’).

As she came out, she saw the man was getting into his Mercedes Benz, she was perplexed, shivered and ran to him and said, “Sir (Ayya!), Please forgive me, I did not do this to insult you. By seeing your dress and appearance, I thought you are struggling in life and offered you the money. It is a blunder. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Please give me back that money. I am sorry”.

The man with the fake beard and turban laughed and replied her politely, “Ammaa.. There is no mistake of yours. It is the other way. The creator is again and again reminding me through some body, “You are nothing. You are not special. Everybody is equal in front of me”. He keeps on sending this message again and again and today you happened to be a medium. That’s it. Thanks a ton”. His hand again went to prayer position, expressed gratitude to the lady and he went into his car.

When the lady realized the man was none other than Super star Rajni Kanth - Asia’s number one paid actor, he has left the place.

She did not know what to do. With tears in her eyes, she was starring at the direction that the car went. “

சும்மா அதிருதில்ல...

So have a happy read..

Courtesy:

Rajnifans

http://www.manakkudiyan.com

Gayathri Sreekanth interview

Tamil Writer Mr.Sujatha Passes away

2008-02-27T21:51:00.016-05:00

(May 3, 1935 - Feb 27, 2008)

Eminent Tamil writer S. Rangarajan, popularly called by his feminine pen name Sujatha, passed away yesterday. He was 73.
தமிழுக்கு கிடைத்த மிக சிறந்த எழுத்தாளர். அவர் மறைவு தமிழ் எழுத்துக்கு ஒரு பேரிழப்பு.
Writing novels was only a part time hobby for him.

For He was an engineer by profession. Mr. Sujatha was General Manager (Research and Development) in BEL and was instrumental in designing the Electronic Voting Machines extensively used in Lok Sabha and assembly elections.

He was a prolific writer who touched every aspect of writing. Be it a novel, short stories or science fiction. In fact he was the first Tamil writer to write about science in such a way even a layman could grasp it.

I got to know about Mr. Sujatha's work through my sister.

சுஜாதாவின் கேள்வி பதில்கள் that use to come in Junior Vikatan was my first exposure to his writing. What was interesting about this was he used to take questions from readers in which he covered every subject under the sun from evolution, nano technology to சலவைகாரி joke.

Many of his works got successfully translated onto the big screen and he also wrote screen play for many popular movies including the recent Sivaji. Even though I haven't read all his works following are some of my favorites

Ganesh and Vasanth

என் இனிய இயந்திரா

நயிலான் கயிறு

பூகுட்டி

கற்றதும் பெற்றதும்

கரையேல்லாம் செண்பகபூ

கொலையுதிர் காலம்

பிரிவோம் சந்திப்போம்

He has written over 250 short stories and 100 novels.

Not bad for a hobby writer.

சுஜாதாவுக்கு என் கண்ணீர் அஞ்சலிகள்....

May his soul rest in peace

Links:

His personal website

http://www.writersujatha.com/

http://www.desikan.com/blogcms/wiki/index.php?id=sujatha

Valentines Day !!

2008-02-14T11:31:00.004-05:00

Few Valentine's Day Quotes that I like ..

Love would never be a promise of a rose garden unless it is showered with light of faith, water of sincerity and air of passion. ~Author Unknown

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. ~Albert Einstein

Love - a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker. ~Author Unknown

Falling in love is so hard on the knees. ~Aerosmith

The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them. ~Stephen King

In today’s commercialized world I really wonder does True Love still have a place here?!

Anyways Happy valentines Day to one and all.

Wish you a very Happy Pongal & Makar Sankranthi

2008-01-15T10:02:00.000-05:00

அனைவருக்கும் இனிய பொங்கல் நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்.

Wishing Everyone A Happy Pongal and Makar Sankranti .

Here is a nice clip showing how to make pongal.

Click here to know more about the festival.

And here is one of my favourite Rajni's song for this festive season.

Welcome 2008!!

2008-01-01T00:02:00.001-05:00

I wish all my readers and fellow bloggers a Happy and Prosperous New year.

I wanted to write about so many topics mainly about books and music but somehow never wrote about them. I am planning to write about them this year.

Regarding New Year celebrations I always wonder why we should get drunk to welcome the New Year. And snore our way into the rest of the day only to wake up with a hangover?

Shouldn’t we stay fresh and alive at the dawn of the New Year? But then it’s just my opinion.

Anyway I wish every one of you a healthy, happy and prosperous new year once again...

Billa -- No Thrilla...

2007-12-17T14:48:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I went with my friends to watch a Tamil movie called Billa starring ‘Ultimate Star’ Ajit.

This movie was supposed to be a remake of Rajni starrer old Billa (1980), which in turn was remake of old Hindi movie Don (1978), which in turn was remake of …. Forget it.

To describe this movie in one single word it was ‘Dud’…

Throughout the movie men wearing shades keep parading in Armani suits and keep exchanging suitcases ? Nice suitcases by the way. I wish I could get one of those as part of exchange program.

Ladies in bikinis, tight leathers and they walk on with high heels so tall, that itself is a risky stunt. Oh, let me guess, walking with designer clothes, wearing shades, gelled hair, high heels these are all supposed to make the film look like Hollywood ?.. pathetic

And as usual cops are shown as big losers, typical desi movie stuff...

Anyway Ajit simply walks, repeats his line like a zombie.

In the first half of the movie his dialogues were mostly bunch of sounds like hmm, um aah.. ?!! he looked totally out of place, uncomfortable.

If Ajit continues to act in these kinds of roles, I guess he will be getting the most consistent wooden actor of Tamil cinema.

And what’s up with that unshaved dirty look. There is no character differentiation between the Billa the boss and Velu the commoner, only time I was excited is when they rolled the credits.

It was so pathetic even writing about is boring. The only saving grace is good photography and 2 good songs. But you can't expect people to come and watch this crap for the sake of cinematography .

I simply don't understand why Bollywood and Kollywood is obsessed with remakes…?

Hopefully results of Don and Billa will put an end to this remake nonsense.

So to sum it up; Stay away from this stinker movie...

Amazing Biped Dog- Faith!!

2007-12-07T15:38:00.000-05:00

Faith's story is amazing and moving.

You can find more info about faith story here

Faiths web site

The Elephants

2007-11-02T16:50:00.000-04:00

Elephants

This is a moving piece about elephants. Just like humans elephants also go through various emotions including post traumatic stress. There are many reasons for this behavior and elephant doesn’t simply go mad for no reason. While humans have counseling and other means of letting out imagine the plight of these poor animals.

This one someway confirms the stories we often read in papers.

Resources

http://www.elephants.com/

The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

Battle at Kruger National Park

2007-08-31T14:46:00.000-04:00

This is one of the most amazing nature video I have seen. A Pride of lions gets a buffalo calf. The mother comes back with its herds and what a stand off. And a crocodile also tries to grab the calf from the lions. Just amazing the way Mother Nature works. So many events chained together unbelievable...

Enough said just watch it to believe it...

Happy Independence Day !!

2007-08-15T09:31:00.000-04:00

Wish you all a Happy 60^th Independence Day.

I haven’t had any chance to update my blog for the past several weeks due to a family medical emergency. But with God’s Grace things are better now. I also made a short 5 day visit to India.

And managed to talk and meet with Prabhu Karthik, Srivatsan and Mukund. NV Sir was in town but due to time factor couldn’t meet him. Things have changed so much in these last 5 years in Chennai. Lots of ‘More’ factors. Traffic congestion, more buildings and hoardings. If I were to stand still for 5 mins. I am sure someone would stick a poster or hoarding on me. Walking on the road could be the most dangerous and adrenaline experience. Traveling in a 2 wheeler or a ride in Auto is the best Xtreme sport experience ever. Despite all this Chennai is Chennai.

Ramblings will continue later...