Motley Elements

TN introduces the Cable Bill

2006-01-25T00:51:00.000-08:00

Following months of inactivity after Chennai gained the dubious distinction of being the ONLY city in the whole country to implement the Conditional Access System from Sep 1, 2003, the Tamilnadu government announced that the State would take over take over all cable TV networks. This includes the operations of multi-system operators (MSOs) like Hathaway and SCV(Sumangali Cable Vision), which is owned by the Maran family.

I guess we can now look forward to more fights over the remote control if other family members seek to view more interesting programmes and not just weepy soaps.

I, for one, am eagerly awaiting the day when I can get to see all channels for a nominal amount, as in the pre-CAS days without forking out more than Rs.250 per month in addition to purchasing a set-top box.

Curiously, the DMK chief has, in a statement welcomed the move. Surely, there is more to this than meets the eye ?

Sometimes I wonder if...

2006-01-09T01:39:00.001-08:00

1. Shah Rukh Khan eats SunFeast biscuits.
2. Amitabh Bachan uses all those products from Boro Plus to Dabur Chyawanprash to Rin.
3. Kajol uses Whirpool appliances.
4. Ajay Devgan uses a Tata Indicom mobile phone.
5. Surya drives a TVS Star DLX.
6. Maddy uses Clinic Hair-fall Defense shampoo.
7. Govinda uses Navratna Tel.
.
.
.
8. I should be getting back to work now.

Tom The Baby Scanner

2005-11-24T20:25:00.000-08:00

is the headline of this article on Sky News. Tom Cruise has bought an ultrasound machine so that he can take a peek at his unborn kid anytime he wants. Boy ! Talk about being an overzealous father !

Kinda reminds me of that Friends episode, where Ross shows the gang the sonogram of his unborn son :

ROSS: Well? Isn't that amazing?
JOEY: What are we supposed to be seeing here?
CHANDLER: I dunno, but.. I think it's about to attack the Enterprise.
PHOEBE: You know, if you tilt your head to the left, and relax your eyes, it kinda looks like an old potato.
ROSS: Then don't do that, alright?
PHOEBE: Okay!

HP and the Goblet of Fire - Review

2005-11-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

Shanthi and I watched "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" yesterday at Sathyam.

Caution : Here be spoilers !

The movie is fast paced and bristles with action. So much so that there is little scope for emotion. The only real emotive moments appear at the very end of the movie when Amos moans the loss of his son Cedric and Voldemort(Ralph Fiennes is brilliant) spews venom at Harry. Although Dumbledore appears largely listless when breaking the news of Cedric's death to the students of Hogwarts.

If, like most, you have read the book, you will surprised at just how much has been left out from the book. For instance, Rita Skeeter has been reduced almost to a cameo role. Winky, the house-elf, who acts as Barty Crouch Jr's guardian in the novel, is missing too. Of course, all this is not too suprising given the fact that Steve Kloves had to pick and choose the most important events from a 600-plus page novel. If so, I am not sure how Sirius' appearance in the fire merits any importance to the progression of the movie.

In terms of magic, the movie brings two new elements to the screen - the Portkey and the Pensieve. Both of them are well done and the visualisation of the effects adheres closely to whats described in the novel.

Two characters really stand out in this movie - "Mad Eye" Moody and Voldemort. Moody manipulates the events that lead to the climax, which features the resurgence of the Dark Lord Voldemort. Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes turn in excellent performances in their roles.

All in all, the darkest movie in the series so far, featuring as it does, two deaths, is certainly worth a watch as it sets the stage for the "dark and difficult times" that lie ahead.

"Support" for Kushboo

2005-11-19T19:46:00.000-08:00

Perhaps stung by the criticism that the Nadigar Sangam (Actors Association) seldom looks after its own, its General Secretary Sarath Kumar belatedly decries the tendency to turn actors into soft targets.

As for Mr.Thirumavalan, he denies that the PMK and the DPI were behind the agitation ! Surprise, surprise ! But what about all those people ? Well...they were just "spontaneously" protesting against the statements made by Kusboo. But they were carrying his party flags, werent they ? He doesnt know too much about that...perhaps they just happened to have his party flags lying about at home. I can just imagine the checklist as the eager agitator sets out from his home. House keys - check, wallet - check, rotten tomatoes - check, chappals - check, DPI/PMK flag - check.

The Left, not to be left out, also issues a statement to the effect that people who wish to protest must resort to "healthy, democratic means".

Here's a round-up of all the Kushboo "supporters".

Sony's Spyware

2005-11-17T23:04:00.000-08:00

Bruce Schneier weighs in on the "Real Story of the Rogue Rootkit".

The article also provides links that guide the reader from the time that Mark Russinovich first reported this on his blog to responses from SonyBMG , First4Internet(the company that developed the XCP program).

More power to the blogger and to the blogosphere !

The Kushboo Affair - Round II

2005-11-17T21:27:00.000-08:00

After the events of the first round in the Kushboo Affair, it was left to Suhasini to rake up the issue and bring it to the forefront of South Indian news.

Well, this set the stage for Round 2 and then DPI, PMK and other "progressive" outfits, representing the "hurt" womenfolk of Tamilnadu once again joined forces to target Suhasini. Her effigy was also burnt by "good and just" people clamouring for action against Kushboo and Suhasini.

And again, as before, the person concerned apologised.

Although other prominent people like Sania Mirza and Narain Karthikeyan and organisations such as AIDWA have spoken up in support of Kushboo, one is shocked at the narrow-minded attitude and hypocrisy displayed by those who have condemned the remarks made by Kushboo.

What is wrong if a woman dares to state that pre-marital sex is fine for women, as long as they take adequate steps against HIV/AIDS etc ? Would there be such a hue and cry if a similar statement had been made about men ? I think not.

But then, gender equality has always been joke, hasnt it ? Its ironic that those who invoke the names of "Periyar" E.V.Ramaswamy and Subramania Bharathi have paid scant attention to the thoughts and philosophies, especially in terms of equality for women, of these two gentlemen.

HP and the Goblet of Fire - Movie

2005-11-17T20:59:00.000-08:00

Harry Potter returns to the box office for the fourth time and this time, he means business. The movie has received rave reviews from most and is considered the best of the series so far. With darker movies like "Order of the Phoenix" and "Half-Blood Prince" yet to come, I believe that the quality of the movies can only improve(keeping my fingers, toes and eyes crossed).

The movie releases in Chennai today, as with the rest of the world and I hope to catch the movie soon.

Star Wars - The greatest postmodern art film ever

2005-11-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

Despite this somewhat grandiose and arguable proclamation about Star Wars, this article on Slate does a good dissection of the Star Wars series.

Quite an interesting read.

It's raining, man ! Hallelujah !

2005-10-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

No...this isnt a reference to the Geri Halliwell song.

Its a reference to the incessant rains that have been lashing Chennai since the North-East monsoon set in on Oct 12. Over 20cms of rain have been recorded since yesterday night. And it doesnt stop here - more rains are predicted over the next 48 hours due to a depression in the Bay of Bengal.

Speaking of predictions, the current rains were "predicted" or "hinted at" by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa more than two months back. Prescience ? No, just history.

Update: A colleague suggests that the depression in the Bay of Bengal may be named "Cyclone" Amma ! Ha ha !!

Dilbert joins the blogosphere

2005-10-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

Read it here.

Thanks to Rat for the info.

The name's....

2005-10-14T01:15:00.000-07:00

....Craig. Daniel Craig. He is "widely expected to be....the new James Bond" says the BBC.

Me, I was rather hoping Pierce Brosnan would don the tuxedo one more time. Oh well...the old order changeth.

Goli soda ? Codswallop !

2005-09-29T00:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I read Amardeep Singh's post on nonsense and then felt that "Codswallop" was a worthy addition to the list of synonyms that he had listed.

When I started to look up the etymology for the word, I came across this:

The story goes that a gentleman by the name of Hiram Codd patented a bottle for fizzy drinks with a marble in the neck, which kept the bottle shut by pressure of the gas until it was pressed inwards. Wallop was a slang term for beer, and Codd's wallop came to be used by beer drinkers as a derogatory term for weak or gassy beer, or for soft drinks.

A visit to Wiki gave me an image for the Codd-bottle. Imagine my surprise when I found that it was our good ol' goli soda !

Whats in the handbag ?

2005-09-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

Groping about trying to locate something in a ladies handbag ? Try this.

Personally, I always thought that a Google appliance would be more useful for this !

Kushboo vs Thankar Bachan : 1 - 1

2005-09-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

Incident 1 - Thankar Bachan reportedly makes denigrating statements against women. Faced with outcry amongst from the film community, especially the ladies, Bachan apologises. Kushboo is among those who is not satisfied with apology. Political parties such as Tamil Protection Movement, PMK, DPI side with Bachan.

Incident 2 - Kushboo reportedly says the pre-marital sex is fine for women as along as they take steps against AIDS. This remark causes outcry among TN women especially those belonging to the Tamil Protection Movement, PMK, DPI. No such reaction is seen from Congress, BJP, DMK and AIADMK, who presumably have no women members (!!) or agree with Kushboo's statement. Kushboo apologises for remarks.

Final score : One-all

*bong* May the next round begin !

India was discovered in 1492

2005-09-23T03:14:00.000-07:00

Pakistan is a Fourth World country somewhere in between Texas and White House.

Parvez Musharraf (born August 14, in the Third Age) is a kindly goat currently roaming the Islamabad-Rawalpindi areas. The name "Parvez Musharraf" was later adopted by the current overlord of India and Pakistan.

James Bond, or 0007 (pronounced luxury-yacht-boomerang) is a Welsh secret agent, in fact he's two secret agents.

Sherlock Holmes is a famous author who wrote many mystery novels starring his fictional protagonist Sir Arthur Conan O'Brien.

Evidence of a parallel universe ? Nope..entries from Uncyclopedia.

Chocolate and Gajini

2005-09-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

In the space of a week, I have found out that two of my most favourite movies - The Usual Suspects and Memento have been "inspirations" for 'Chocolate' and 'Gajini' respectively.

I had suspected that 'Gajini' was inspired by 'Memento' ever since I saw a hoarding of Surya sporting a tonsured look with tattoos all over his body, but when I saw the trailer with Surya taking pics of people using a polaroid, my suspicions were confirmed. The presence of Asin and Nayantara in the movie means that the original script has been customized for Tamil audiences. Also, in the movie, Surya is supposed to be one of the richest men in India - another departure from the original.

While Sudhish Kamath describes 'Chocolate' as "shop lifted and shopworn", 'Gajini' is yet to be released.

I have seen the noodle

2005-09-19T23:48:00.000-07:00

and it has defined the purpose of my existence.

All hail His Exalted Noodleness - The FSM !

Trying times for Ganguly

2005-09-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

Saurav Ganguly has certainly been in the thick of things recently and for all the wrong reasons. After the 6-match ban was reduced, he joined the team for the triseries in SL where he scored a scrappy half-century.

Intense speculation prevailed as to whether he would be retained captain for the tri-series and test series in Zimbabwe and I must admit that I was rather surprised when Ganguly was indeed retained skipper.

Now, a day after he painstakingly put together a century against a pedestrian Zimbabwe attack and managed to "take" the wicket of Laxman "(run out Ganguly)" in the process, he revealed that he had been asked to step down from captaincy. He claimed that this had given him the determination to make a sizeable contribution to the Indian total. But it appears that the century has done little for Ganguly's future as captain or even player of the Indian cricket team. Ganguly's detractors are now baying for his blood.

As Kannadasan put it, "Uyarntha edathil irukkumbothu, ulagam unnai madhikkum. Un nilamai konjam irangi vanthal, nizhalum kooda mithikkum". (When you are on top, the world praises you. But should you slip, even your shadow will not heed you).

iPod Nano

2005-09-14T02:41:00.000-07:00

Cute, but tough.

Now, how do I get my mitts around one of these babies ?

Karuppu MGR

2005-09-13T02:59:00.000-07:00

Kaliyuga Karnan, Manitha-neya semmal - just some of the monikers for "Captain" Vijayakanth that his admiring fans have put up on his website.

Vijayakanth kicks off his party's first political conference on Sep 14 in Madurai, where he will reveal the name of his party and its ideology.

A glance at his profile reveals that he "is having nearly 45,000 Vijayakant fans welfare association...for the poor welfare"(sic), "is young lot of social works for the past 25 years"(sic), "has donated Mis. Sageetha for teacher's training" (sic).

Interestingly for someone who is gung-ho about Tamil and Tamilians, the Tamil link on his website doesnt work; only the English link does.

Yet another film star joins the political bandwagon in Tamilnadu hoping to do a MGR, as if there werent enough contenders already. Ah....the "magic" that is multi-party democracy !

Freudian slip ?

2005-09-13T02:26:00.000-07:00

Current Objet d'desire...

2005-09-13T02:21:00.000-07:00

....is the iPod Nano.

Its a pity that Amazon doesnt ship these to India :-(

Discovery of the day....

2005-09-01T00:46:00.000-07:00

...was Tilotamma's blog. I loved some of the posts that she had made and it led me to dig up a lot of posts from the archives.

Not only were the posts informative, but also the comments on the posts were hilarious(like the "Ramayana pic" post).

Some info bytes that I got from Tilotamma's blog:

1. The origin of the Starbucks "Siren" logo
2. The secrets of the FedEx logo
3. Poems of "Love and War" by A.K.Ramanujan (looked up Kuruntokai 27 which figures in the 'Theendai mei theendai' song in 'En Swasa Kaatre')
4. Senthalir and Sharanya, two minor planets in our Solar System. Also school students from Avila, Coimbatore
5. Barbers and Surgeons

All in all, a very productive morning(not something my boss would have approved of, though) ! :)

Sania moves on...

2005-08-31T21:49:00.000-07:00

...to the third round at the US Open.

From the write-up at the US Open website, where she is Player of the Day:

"Every time Sania Mirza of India wins another match, it's not just a personal victory, but one for her whole country. At just 18-years-old, she's consistently setting new records in tennis that no Indian woman has ever achieved. "

Read the full piece here.