Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts

The year that was!

As I sit back and think about the year 2008, reliving the events of the year one word comes to my mind - eventful!!

The year has been pretty eventful, mostly very good! :D
The year started off on an interesting note, with me shifting location for work, and then coming back... moving from one line of business to another - all within the first month of the year!!

As a Rahmaniac, this year was a blast! 2008 will be a memorable one for Rahman-fans, what with ARR delighting us with 7 amazing albums (Jodhaa Akbar, Jaane Tu, Sakkarakatti, Ada, Yuvvraaj, Ghajini and Slumdog Millionaire). And, we got to enjoy two wonderful live conerts in Chennai! :) However, it was even more special for me, cos i got to meet ARR a few times this year!!! :D

And, the year ended with a pleasant surprise - Thanks to Dreamy Dryad, I got to see my name scroll up in the credits for music, in a short film! Yes! I composed for the short film, Maami's Memories directed by Sandhya!

What I loved in 2008?
Movies: WALL·E, Jaane tu ya jaane naa
Songs: Difficult to pick one... but Kahin toh and Khwaja have a slight edge! :D
TV show: Airtel Super Singer
Singer: Benny Dayal (Kaise Mujhe, Tu hi mera dost and Taxi Taxi)


What I hated in 2008?
Most IRRITATING songs: Naaku mukka, and that utterly annoying "Mozha mozha nu" song from the dumb Kuruvi...
Movie: Sakkarakatti - there can be no competition for this one!!
TV Shows: all the copied programs in Sun TV (ozhungaa copy adikka kooda mudiyaadhaa?! :P) and the commercialisation of Mumbai attacks on all news channels


As 2008 draws to a close and 2009 dawns, here's wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!!!
By Aravind on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 9:00 PM
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How to mess up a star-studded award function?

Ask the organisers of the Sunfeast Tamil Music Awards, they will have all the answers to this question!

The event held at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on 5th July 2008, had no scarcity of stars. The luminaries who lit up the evening included legends Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy and Vikku Vinayak Ram, Maestro A.R.Rahman, KS Chithra, Harris Jayaraj, directors Shankar and Dharani, actors Vijay, Nayanthara, Kushboo and Simran.

The event which was supposed to start at 6 pm started at 7 pm. This delay is usually considered normal these days for shows of this scale. But, what followed for the next 3 hours should probably be the biggest mess up among events of this scale.

The hosts of the evening (Raghav and actress Aparna) had no clue of the proceedings of the evening. It was utter chaos right from the start, when they walked on to the podium and waited for a couple of minutes only to go back, after realising that they should have come only later!

Even the way the awards were announced was totally unprofessional. Many a time, the AV started while the hosts were announcing the winner's name, interrupting them. There was absolutely no coordination!!! Halfway through the show, the hosts decided to avoid this confusion - they just stopped with "and the award goes to". The winners name just came up on the AV! Sometimes, they played the AV for the next award, before the current award was presented, creating more confusion!

That was not all. After a long commercial break when the stage was set for Shruti Hassan to sing, the hosts were nowhere to be seen! Shruthi straight away started singing without anyone introducing her, and majority of the crowd was left wondering who it was on the stage!

Talking of commercial-breaks, they were far too many in number and the duration of each break was also pretty long, which left the audience restless! The frequent technical glitches gave more reasons for the audience to scream and boo!!

The celebs who presented the awards and those who got the awards were left totally clueless when they came on stage, because there were no thank you-s from the host once the awards were presented. The celebs were left wondering whether they should leave the stage, or they should wait or should they speak! When the hosts announced the next award, that was the cue for the celebs to step down! What a way to treat your celeb guests!

Surprisingly, none of the celebs were given the mic! All the talking was done by the hosts - till 9 pm, that is! It took them more than 2 hours to realise that the winners should be given some airtime on stage! But, why couldn't they have asked the girl who carried the award tropy, to carry the mic as well and pass it on to the celeb? Each time, either Raghav or Aparna had to run with the mic, from their podium at corner of the stage to the centre, just as the celeb was getting down from the stage! Have the organisers and the hosts never watched any of the award functions on TV?

The stage setup was the other irritating thing - the hosts' podium was in one corner, but the entry to the backstage was at the other corner. So, after inviting the performers to the stage, the hosts had to walk the full length of the stage each time, even as the dancers assembled for the performance!

The way the awards were conceptualised was, in itself, totally inane. Take this for example. The best melodious song award was presented to singer Balram for "Kaatrin Mozhi". Engaeyum Eppodhum was selected as the best remix song, and the award was presented not to the singer or the composer but to the director & producer. June Ponal was adjudjged the Best Youthful song, and this was presented to the composer, Harris Jayaraj! I fail to comprehend if there is even a faint logic in their decision of who gets the credit for each song - the singer or the director or the composer or even the producer!

I had to endure all this to catch a glimpse of A.R.Rahman receiving the best music director award, for, that was the last award of the day! It was quite obvious to everyone there at the venue that A.R.Rahman was gonna get the best Music Director award.

There were some remarkable performances during the show, including Bharatnayam by Shobhana, percussion ensemble by Vikku Vinayak Ram's family and some spirited singing by Shruti Hassan. But, all this was shadowed by too many glitches and unprofessional organising!

After all the hype that they generated for this event, it was a big big let down! A very amateurish and unprofessional show! Hope they learn from the innumerable mistakes they made this time!
By Aravind on Sunday, July 06, 2008 at 9:12 AM
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Glorifying Alcohol?

Headlines Today broadcasts this show called "Bangalore Beats". In today morning's episode, Bangalore Beats talked about pubs in Bangalore. The one hour show extensively showcased various pubs in the city, with the anchor and a gang of bangalore youth visiting the different pubs and interviewing the owners and the customers there. The gang explained what they like about each pub to the anchor, as she went about tasting beer in the different pubs. Throughout the show, bangalore was referred to as "Pub City", "Beer Capital of India" etc. There was a mention of one pub, which had the distinction of being the first pub serving the "thirsty indians" after independence...

One hour later, I was left with some thoughts - In a country where advertising or promoting alcohol is banned, where does such a program stand?
The health ministry is of the opinion that smoking/drinking scenes in movies will impact the youth and wanted filmmakers to display health warnings. What about such programs which blatantly promote the alcohol culture?
By Aravind on Friday, July 06, 2007 at 6:05 PM
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Vote for the Taj!

The new 7 wonders of the world are to be announced on 7th of July (07.07.'07). The pride of our country, Taj Mahal, just managed to scrape thru to the final 21 list, in the preliminary rounds of voting. The voting for the final 7 is on now. Each of our votes will count.

A.R.Rahman has come up with a beautiful anthem for this cause - to gather support for the Taj. The sample of the theme is available here. Listen to the song, and vote on this site: http://taj.indiainfo.com/onlineregistration.php

Let's make it happen!!

UPDATE: Here's the full video


By Aravind on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 10:16 AM
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Of Ganguly and Rajni

Wonder what connects Dada and Superstar? You say "nothing"? Then, you've forgotten those irritating hoardings of Tata Indicom, featuring Ganguly, which appeared in many scenes in Chandramukhi.

Here's one more. Many of us would have burst out laughing seeing the camera focus on a Coca Cola keychain, in the scene where the mother is dying, in Yaadein!!

These are supposed to be usages of an advertising technique called "Product Placement", but our filmmakers simply donno how it is done!!! I had to make a presentation on this topic recently and hence I happened to find many awesome product placements in Hollywood movies while working for it!

Take this one for example. This is from the Julia Roberts starrer, Runaway Bride.


Well, you saw the FedEx truck - that's just the good part, but not the brilliant part. The brilliance lies in the way the FedEx promise - sure delivery by 10:30 am the next day - is incorporated as a part of the dialogue. This just fits in seamlessly with the movie and doesn't stand out or annoy the audience!!
(ok..I can hear ppl saying "I cant access youtube". So, here's the description. Julia leaves Gere at the altar and is running away in a FedEx truck. Here's the dialogue at that point:
"Where do you think she's going?"
"Wherever it is, she'll be there by 10:30 tomorrow morning".)

There are many more examples - I can remember AOL e-mail in You've got mail, and many products in When Harry met Sally and City of Angels (oh! I love those romantic comedies of Meg Ryan. )

When will our Indian filmmakers stop showing the product blatantly, and keep the advertising message subtle? When will they learn?


PS: Anyone came across some really good or really bad product placements? Write about it in the comments...
By Aravind on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 at 9:12 AM
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Vande Mataram!

"Let us for a moment pause to reflect what it is that for which we would like to be remembered for by future generations. Will we be remembered for how many mosques our generation has added, will we be remembered for how many temples our generation has added or will we be remembered for how many gurudwaras our generation has added?

No, not at all. We will be remembered only if we give to our younger generation a prosperous and safe India, resulting out of economic prosperity coupled with civilisational heritage."

- Hon'ble President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalaam

Happy Independence Day!
Vande Mataram!
By Aravind on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 at 9:46 AM
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Paper-clip becomes a house!!!

Kyle McDonald, a Canadian blogger, started off with a red-coloured paper clip and through a series of online barters, finally, has ended up with a house all to himself!!! He started with the goal of getting a house - in July 2005.

His transactions:
One red paper clip --> fish shaped pen --> A doorknob --> Camping stove --> Generator --> Beer Keg --> Snowmobile --> Trip to Yakh, Canada --> A van --> A music recording contract --> one-year rent free accomodation --> An Afternoon with musician Alice Cooper --> A Snow Globe --> Hollywood movie role --> House in Kipling

And here's his blog:
http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/

And the BBC news report:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5167388.stm
By Aravind on Monday, July 24, 2006 at 3:02 PM
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The Festival of Gold?

Akshaya Trithiya, the festival which is being celebrated today, is supposed to be the festival of prosperity, luck and success. But, thanx to the jewllers and media, it had become "the festival of gold". This sudden gold-rush is purely due to promos by the jewllery stores. I remember reading somewhere, that no where in the scriptures is the connection between AT and gold mentioned. What has happened is mere commercialisation of an otherwise little-known festival!

When you buy gold on AT, it leads to increase in wealth and prosperity - for the jewellers, of course!
By Aravind on Sunday, April 30, 2006 at 1:18 PM
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Aruva Meesai, Koduva Paarvai!

Wondering who this guy with "aruvaa meesai" is? If you have played EA Sports Cricket 2005, you would have easily found out that this is Sachin Tendulkar! Yes.. This is how Sachin looks in the game! I dont have to say anything more about the how other Indian players look, in the game!

The sad part is that this poor-state is only for the Indian team. The players' faces and actions are beautifully replicated for the other teams. Here's a sample.Do I even need to say the men in the collage are McGrath, Gillespie, Murali, Gilchrist, Shoaib Akhtar and Pollock? These images are from screen shots of the game - look at how realistic they are!
I don't understand why they have done this to India, given the fact that India is one of the most cricket-crazy countries!

Even if we leave out these factors, the game sucks big time! This game is loaded with bugs:
  • The umpire calls wide or byes even if the ball hits the pad - this happens very frequently!
  • You are batting and suddenly you find that the controls are swapped!!! Yes... u are now able to control only the opponent team's bowler!
  • Sachin and Sehwag batting... Suddenly, the commentator announces that Laxman will face the next ball - and you are like "What the hell is happening???" . 2 balls later, its is Sachin and Sehwag again. Whatever Laxman scored in those 2 balls is added to his own score, but not to the team total!
  • One run to win. 5 balls remaining. You hit a six. And then, the bowler gets ready to bowl the next ball! For some strange reason (or lack of it!), you dont win, even though your score is higher than the your opponent's. Then, u get a single to win the game !!!
These are some bugs which I really faced - within some 3-4 matches (of 10 overs each) ! There must be a lot more in there! These are just the new bugs I am talking about. The bugs that were in the earlier versions find their place in this version too.

To make this game, what EA Sports must have done is this: Take Cricket 2004, add better graphics and lot more bugs - there u go... a new game!!!
This is easily the worst game I have played!

(Free-ya velaiyaadina enakke ivlo irritating-aa irukkae, Rs. 1039 koduthu indha game-a vaanginavangalukku epdi irukkum? )

Update: Abinand wanted to know how the other Indian cricketers look, in Cricket 2005. I have uploaded a few screenshots here. Look at these and have a hearty laugh!
By Aravind on Saturday, February 25, 2006 at 6:06 PM
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SPIC MACAY "Yamini 2006"

The IIMB Sub-chapter of SPIC MACAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth) is organising Yamini - the annual, dawn to dusk classical music and dance festival on 25th January 2006.

Time: 7:00 pm to 6:00 am
Venue: Open Air Theatre, IIM Bangalore.

Entry is free for everyone. For details about free passes and other info visit our site.

The artiste list for this year's festival:
Pt. Rajan & Pt. Sajan Mishra - Hindustani Vocals
Shri. TM Krishna - Carnatic Vocals
Priyadarshini Govind - Bharatnatyam
Sangeetha Samrat Chitraveena Shri Ravi Kiran - Chitra Veena
Pt. Ronu Majumdar - Flute

Hon'ble Governor of Karnataka, Shri TN Chaturvedi will inaugurate the event.

Bangalore-ites... what are u waiting for? Get hold of ur free passes and be there to enjoy the performance of some of the best classical artistes in India!
By Aravind on Friday, January 20, 2006 at 8:18 AM
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Iniya Pongal Nalvaazhthukkal



By Aravind on Saturday, January 14, 2006 at 5:51 AM
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Happy New Year!!!!

Wishing you all a bright, happy and prosperous new year!!!!
By Aravind on Sunday, January 01, 2006 at 7:30 AM
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What the hell?

Shoot-out in IISc campus in front of a conference hall!!! That too, within 12 hours of this news - about Bangalore as terrorist targets!!! Within an educational institution like IISc! No place is safe :(

Why IISc? Since security was beefed up in IT companies as they were considered as likely targets? So, they went to a different place? May be! Nothing is clear now... Hope the campus and Bangalore city returns to normal soon...

By Aravind on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 at 10:43 PM
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The Man, The Master!

Sachin created history, becoming the higest century maker in test cricket too! He scored 100* in 176 balls. Great way to silence those critics who questioned his form!!!
Congrats Sachin!
By Aravind on Sunday, December 11, 2005 at 6:01 AM
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A.R.Rahman & Sachin Tendulkar - A comparison

Many people who became die-hard Rahman fans in the 90s were also hardcore Sachin fans (including me!). I have seen this in many cases... My friend Radhakrishnan who is also a Rahmaniac also was of the same opinion! I think this phenomenon is not without a reason, the reason being similarities between the two. Got this interesting comparison by Maddy, from ForumHub:

A startling but very logical coincidences between 2 of the greatest men of 90's......they characterised the 90's and were icons of the youth at that time......just see the startling similarities between these 2:

Entry into their respective fields:

A.R.Rahman (ARR): 1992
Sachin Tendulkar (SRT): 1989


They were an instant hit because:
ARR: Blasting music, classical songs at a very young age
SRT: Swashbuckling batting and a great cricketing sense at a very young age

How they stood out from others?
ARR: First to bring digital touch to Indian music and compose fusion that no one else dares to think off.
SRT: First to explore the first 15-over restriction, score centuries at bouncy, tough tracks like Perth.

As time moved on:
ARR: Stopped producing blasting music, instead delivered Classical melodies like Taal, Swades, Bose, Meenaxi and Tehzeeb out of maturity.
SRT: Stopped going over the top to bowlers, instead played exquisite drives and late cuts and produced innings with a lot of maturity.

Character similarity:
ARR: Shy towards media and lets his keyboard answer his critics
SRT: Shy towards media and lets his bat answer his critics

Media point of view:
ARR: Darling of Mumbai and London press
SRT: Darling of Mumbai and London press

International attention:
ARR: Admired by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Micheal jackson (who wore a t-shirt having Rahman's photo on it) and many other international music reviewers who want him to compose for Hollywood films.
SRT: Adored by the man himself the "DON" Bradman and Mike Atherton(who compared Sachin to W.G.Grace) and a never ending list of Australian, English, Kiwi, WestIndian players.

Earnings:
ARR: Draws 1 Crore/ film, ambassador of Bharti telecom, sizzled with the Airtel ad
SRT: Unimaginable money on contracts with big commercial giants. Sizzles in Pepsi ads.

Records:
ARR: 4 national awards, 17 filmfare awards, his music sold 210 million copies around the world (more than Britney and Madonna put together!!) and success rate of 80%+ album sales in Indian movies.
SRT: Look at this for a record: 37 ODI centuries, 35 TEST centuries, 13,000+ runs in ODI's, 44+ average in ODI's and 58+ average in Tests. What else u can ask for?

Popularity:
ARR: Has a huge fan following in India and in south he is a demi-god and captures the imagination of NRI's throughout the world
SRT: According to a survey, he is the most popular man in the Country edging out the Prime Minister and Shah-Rukh-Khan. He is popular even in places like U.S where the game is not that popular (featured in an exclusive article in an American sports magazine)

Career Graph & Present form:
ARR: Had fabulous nineties with all his albums doing well in this time. Reached dizzying heights during this period. Have had flops with major banners
since 2001, which got the critics interested. Had a great 2003 within this lean patch with Boys creating sales records. His fans base however is intact, proved that with success of Ah Aah album.

SRT: The star of 90’s, his batting propelled him into a youth icon status in India and was concurred with many awards from the government. Being pressurized by the detractors for a imaginary loss of form and injury worries since 2001. Had a great world cup 2003 scoring runs at will. Recently has had a good innings in a one-day match to prove that he is still fit.
(Their career-graph is one of the most fascinating things I have ever noticed, they always seem to have good times together. Bad times also coincides for both of them)

Fans:
ARR: Die-hard fans want him to go back to 90’s style of composing
SRT:Never say die fans want him to take up 90’s style of swashbuckling batting.

Successors:
ARR: His successors like Yuvan Shankar Raja and Himesh Reshammiya are more successful than him right now but no way near to him in terms of class.
SRT: Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif are more popular with people than him right now but as the old west-Indian saying goes: "Form is temporary, but class is permanent".

Duplicates:
ARR: Has a duplicate called Harris Jeyaraj who not only copies ARR's music and composing style but also his hairstyle and way of speaking in interviews.
SRT: Virendar Sehwag, a natural duplicate of sachin with looks and batting style similar to him. Called “Najafgarh ka Tendulkar”. (Najafgarh is Virendar Sehwag’s hometown.)

Where will they end up?:
ARR: Probably will put India into the world map of music and create records which upcoming Indian M.D's can't even dream of.
SRT: It would probably take an android or a special species of human being to erase his record in Cricket. Will always be remembered as the greatest ever batsman of modern era.

By Aravind on Sunday, November 27, 2005 at 7:51 AM
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Blog posts doing rounds as forwards!

Yeah! This is the new trend! People send out blog posts as mail forwards... I got one very interesting forward - "En per padum paadu" recently - and thanx to that, I discovered this good blog of Kalaivani!

By Aravind on Monday, November 21, 2005 at 9:35 PM
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Bermuda!


When I saw this Calvin strip, I was immediately reminded of the 2007 Cricket World Cup grouping list released recently! ICC brings in new teams every world cup - last time it was Namibia; Scotland, UAE and Canada in the past! These teams come out to bat, get bowled out in first 30 overs and the stronger team finishes the match in 20 overs. Or, if they field first, concede 300 odd runs and get bowled out for 150! These teams usually are out of world cricket after these severe thrashings from the biggies - barring very few teams like Kenya and Bangladesh, which have survived for a longer duration. And for the next tournament, ICC brings in new teams.

For the next edition of the world cup, it is going to be Bermuda! The main reason for bringing in new teams is to promote Cricket in these countries. After some heavy thrashing these teams recieve from biggies, how will anyone from their country be interested in Cricket? How will a strong team be formed? Won't this have a negative effect, rather than a positive one?

If ICC wants to promote Cricket in many countries, this is just not the way. ICC can organise training camps, inculcate interest by holding many series among non-test playing nations, help them form strong teams - then bring them into a huge tournament such as this.

Will ICC change its policy?
By Aravind on Sunday, November 20, 2005 at 7:31 AM
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Another twist to the tale!!!

  • Ganguly announces in the press-meet that Chappell asked him to step down from captaincy!
  • Then, BCCI tries to patch it up.
  • Chappell says "that was to motivate Ganguly".
  • Ganguly and Chappell play pool together and pose for the media.
And now, Chappell writes to BCCI that "Ganguly is mentally and physically unfit to lead the team."
(http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/india/content/story/219986.html)

So much in just 1 week!!!

It is now very clear that the we-are-friends-now played by Chappell and Ganguly was not real! Chappell would have been forced by BCCI to do that!

It is pretty puzzling that the contents of a "confidential" e-mail leaked to the press! The mail was sent to the BCCI President! How on earth did the press know of the contents? No privacy even at such high levels?
By Aravind on Friday, September 23, 2005 at 10:26 PM
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Halo around the moon!


The moon presented a wonderful sight yesterday - there was a huge halo around the full moon! I have seen halos like this before, but this one was really really huge. There was a great hue and cry about this all over the hostel blocks in the campus. And of course, just like any rare happening, rumours started spreading about this one too:
- this event occurs only once in 4500 years (!!!)
- this is going to be the end of the world (this of course, is a cliche)
- this is because of a big hole in ozone layer (still cant understand how a hole in the ozone layer will lead to this)
There was also one person on campus who thought that some UFO was about to land (this is the consequence of watching movies like Independence Day and Close Encounters!!)

By Aravind on Monday, September 19, 2005 at 6:44 AM
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Ganguly's Poor Form - Statistics speak the truth!

Let me clear one thing first - I am not anti-Ganguly (you might get such an impression seeing my back-2-back posts bashing him) .

Ganguly often quotes statistics to his defence - but how "true" are they? are they to be taken in the face value? Should we probe deeper in to those stats to find out the real truth?

Excerpts from a Cricinfo article, which analyses the Ganguly's stats:
A cursory look at the stats don't reveal the rot that has set in - in his last 14 Tests, starting with the second Test of that series in Australia, Ganguly stats read 681 runs at 35.84, with one century and five fifties. Not outstanding figures, but quite acceptable, you might think. The problem is that many of those runs have been against soft opposition and bowling attacks: Ganguly has had his share of the easy runs against the minnows, but he hasn't done much of note against the tougher teams.

Read the full article here.
By Aravind on Sunday, September 18, 2005 at 10:55 PM
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