An Owl's 2 hoots

One more blog by me

2010-09-21T12:15:00.003-07:00

swaram7.blogspot.com

3 leaves

2010-04-16T06:33:00.002-07:00

MoLachu moonu ilai vittachu!!

Happy birthday to Raju too!

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya

2010-03-01T11:59:00.005-08:00

Watched yesterday - might be Simbu's best movie till date and would be hard to reach this level again
Gautam Menon is one smart director. By simply making fun of himself in the movie, he has successfully prevented me from writing too critically
I don't believe ARR's music should grow on me in order to like it. Either I like it or not.
How can anyone so effortlessly fuse "Here comes the bride" and the post-Muhurtham song in Anbil avan? And what about the violin intro in "Kannukkul.."
If Vinnaithaandi varuvaaya is the first line of a song, the next one should be "pudavai kattikondu nadappaaya". But damn GVM, he shuts me out there too by making fun of how Trisha walks in his own dialogs
A treat for 16-22 year olds.

sappa matters #16

2009-12-08T09:15:00.002-08:00

SM1: Alright, that was long break even in my slow-a$$ blogging standards.

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SM2: Has blogging taken a back step after everyone and their grandmothers started using facebook? Not to say that I am doing earth-shattering updates on Facebook!

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SM3: Wii!!! Love it!

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SM4: Saw Paa couple of days ago. I liked the movie, although it was predictable towards the second half. Questions:

There were a total of 20 people in the theater, but benches and thara tickets had to be used for Kandaswami. Why?
I have to rely on subtitles for hindi movies, but it seemed un-necessary for at least half the movie. Is this a changing trend everywhere?
Was Amithabh Bachchan that adamant on not shaving his head? Does Progeria really cause such a huge head?

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SM5: I hate winter for only one reason.

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What's new

2009-11-02T09:43:00.002-08:00

Turns out that the American who won the NYC marathon was an African immigrant after all!

Now that's useful!

2009-09-24T09:03:00.003-07:00

There is a "panic" button at the right top, just in case!

Eavesdropping and Manirathnam

2009-09-13T10:40:00.005-07:00

I was standing in the checkout line of Walmart yesterday. As usual, the line was long and slow moving. There was an Indian family (probably North Indian) standing in the next line with a kid and an American lady (middle-aged) was behind them. I think she must have guessed that they were Indians and was indulging in small talk.

American lady: I went to India last year

Indian family: Oh! Did you like it?

Lady: Yes. I visited Ramana Maharishi ashram. Have you heard about it?

IF: No.

Lady: Well, I am not able to pronounce the name of the place properly, but there is an Aru-na-chalesh-wara temple in that area. I went fro Chennai.

IF: Arunachal?? I get it! That's a state in the North-East. It is pretty far!

Lady: Really! Hmm... I think it was in the South.

At this point, I had to force myself into the conversation although I don't like doing that. Not sure whether the line was long and boring or whether I was annoyed that an Indian did not know about his own country.

I think it was after Dil Se (a box office flop) and Manirathnam was being interviewed by some magazine.

Reporter: Why bother about story lines and plots set somewhere in North-East?

Mani: It is not somewhere. It is also part of India!

Coming back after a long hiatus. Hopefully would be able to post more frequently!

Strange feeling

2009-06-26T12:32:00.002-07:00

Music is among the top things I am interested in. I underwent a bit of carnatic music training but stopped after a few years, but the doors to the music world was just opening. Apart from tamil film music, I used to listen to english songs broadcast on radios in the evenings and sometimes in tapes. Other than a few amazing tunes, the rest were just a momentary pleasure and blurred away into oblivion. It was not until I heard "Bad" by Michael Jackson that I was truly drawn into the world. Although this song is good, it is not in any way a great one (as far as I was concerned), but the video (I don't remember know how and where I saw it) made an impression on me at several levels. The subway, co-ordinated movements, graffiti spray paint, and best of all, the ultra-cool guy who reverse splits on roller skates and starts moon walking on the same spot with a boom box!

Surprisingly, I did not know about"Thriller" which came earlier.

As in many Indian households, I was being drawn towards several art forms - learning music, learning karate, learning table tennis - and then of course, the eternal "studies". So, I had no chance of formally following a particular artist or gradually developing my music taste. Though the fire was still burning, there was minimal oxygen. But cable TV helped me out with a vengeance! All the music you want, with video, just sitting right there. There was no way to get up to speed in all forms and categories, so I chose artist-wise, and guess who came first in that list! All of his songs were seen at various time points within a very short time.

I think it was when "Dangerous" released, when I started seeing realizing that there was something weird going on with MJ. I had no idea how he was continued to being perceived in the US, and was just listening to him purely based on his music. His lawsuits, VMA drama, amusement park, zoos were just playful antics according to me and I urged myself to look at the bigger picture all the time - his music.

His later works were not that earth-shattering, but did have some sparks in them. All the while, his off-studio personality went from bad to worst (whether they were true or not). Debt, humiliation and a couple of really bad interviews finished the story for him. I had to become a closet MJ fan for a while.

But soon my music horizons expanded and I gradually grew out of my comfort zone. It was not as hard as I thought it would be - a gradual maturity which helped me like the music irrespective of the artist. There was not much coverage about MJ anyway for a while until his recent tour announcements.

Yesterday, I was feeling a bit tired and was taking a nap when my wife who was watching TV said "What the... " from the living room. Something forced me to come out of the room and there it was - "MJ dead" - the media already swooping from all directions, CNN already rendering a cursive written Michael Jackson 1958-2009.

I just want to look at the bigger picture.

Price on the head

2009-05-05T06:53:00.002-07:00

Warning: this post may not be suitable for all.

Literally, a price on the head - at least, the skull!

I am not sure if it is still legal (not even sure if it was ever), but when my brother was starting his dental studies, he wanted a human skull for understanding better the facial and jaw bone mechanism.

So, me and my dad went to MMC to buy a human skull. We knew someone who knew someone else (probably in the mortuary!) who brought the skull in a cardboard box (Nippo cooker box I think). It was several years ago but I think we paid some 150 Rs and some more for the guy who brought it. Now, if you have observed a human skeleton in the zoology lab, you would see that the whole skeleton is mounted on a frame, with wires supporting the rib cage, foot, etc. Now, that is fine if the skeleton is not going to be moved around. For a separate skull, on the other hand, there is no such support. In the absence of the actual flesh, the mandible (lower jaw) is loose and will be separated from the skull. So, the guy who brought the skull was not sure which lower jaw used to fit this skull, and so he brought two! Yedhaavadhu onnu fit aagum saar! At that time, I was also interested in medicine, so I used to observe my brother fiddle with it and sometimes I myself would check it out. Kind of strange to have someone's head around the house! I think we still do have it in the attic.

Anyway, the reason for this post is an ad which I saw at my workplace - "Human skull for sale" - with a spring mechanism for the lower jaw, so that it does not topple out. The cost? not much, $2000.

2 in 2

2009-04-16T06:38:00.002-07:00

Since I came to the US, I have been celebrating my birthday twice in every place I have lived (Arizona, Florida, Washington state and now Mass.). Here's to hoping that I would spend more birthdays in Massachusetts.

Adhaavadhu, inniki ennoda berthuday! Also, HBD Raju!

Thawing fingers

2009-03-26T18:33:00.005-07:00

Makes it easier to point and shoot!

Spring is here, I think
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Harvard in the background
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St. Patrick's day. What? The flag colors are close enough for us to be there!
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sappa matters -#15

2009-02-26T10:17:00.003-08:00

SM1: Hats off to ARR! When is that Marudhanayakam coming now?

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SM2: I shiver at the possibility that Ajith would have played Rudran in Naan KadavuL! "ei! enna look udra?!"

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SM3: Down with flu. Fluids and rest advised. I noticed that whenever I talk to a Doctor, I use all those "GRE" words!

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SM4: Ok, I should really go to bed now.

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Law and Order problem aaidum saar

2009-02-19T14:07:00.007-08:00

What the hell is happening in TN?

While a police station was set ablaze by the advocates, vehicles parked in the court complex were smashed by the policemen.

High Court judges who came to the premises to see the damage caused to advocates’ vehicles had to run when they were confronted by lathi-wielding policemen. Fire fighters who tried to put out the flames engulfing the police station were attacked by the advocates.

Pain

2009-02-02T13:31:00.003-08:00

Sometimes it's almost funny how we can get hurt from the most unexpected quarters. Something which we never even think of everyday and take for granted can spring the biggest of all surprises. Pain when ignored just goes away, but when you concentrate fully on the act of getting hurt and give the pain its full deserving attention, it is amazing how painful pain can be. Almost life stopping.

Stupid pinkie toe. A whole Seinfeld episode has been dedicated to it and still, it refuses to leave humans in peace.

Yesterday, I just finished vacuuming, switched off the lights and was turning to leave the room, when my left pinkie toe very nicely snagged and caught the bed edge. Initially I did not feel anything - just anger that my walk from the inside of the room to outside was disturbed. That's when signals from my toe traveled and reached all the way to my brain. "Buddy, you cannot ignore me. My only purpose in still being a preserved part of the human body is to keep reminding you not to ignore me and if you do forget, I will stub myself and somehow, magically, you also feel the pain".

I cannot recall such levels of pain in the near or distant past. M immediately knew something was up when I yelped and did some first aid to ease the damage. But the deed had been done. Wonderful, seeping pain enveloped my whole leg and refused to go as I tried to balance the pain by watching some wonderfully inept acting in Home Alone 2. Pinkie toe won but.

Today, putting my pants on was one thing; putting my socks was something, but wearing shoes was something else.

sappa matters -#14

2009-01-24T21:25:00.002-08:00

SM1: Was Slumdog Millionaire that good? All that talk about AB slamming slumdog seems to be justified for the wrong reasons.

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SM2: Dwight's shortform is Ike. How on earth is that possible?

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SM3: Gone are the days when a white wire hanging from an ear meant that the person wearing it was hard of hearing.

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SM4: I swear that this was purely unintentional. I swear.

Irony

2009-01-07T14:27:00.001-08:00

Satyam = truth.

With snow this time

2008-12-22T13:15:00.007-08:00

and me from the safe confines of the apartment.

Got to walk sometimes
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Lens
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Two feet in a foot of snow
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More experimenting...

2008-12-14T18:21:00.010-08:00

Photo series would continue for some more time...

These photos were taken when I was loafing around the house and Boston.

Color check
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Train check
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Angle check
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Time check
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Silhoute (spelling!) check
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Escape!

Winter is here...

2008-12-07T16:07:00.015-08:00

... definitely. We had the first dose of snow today. Nothing stuck to the ground as the ground temperature was still above freezing point. Cogito got me a new camera (I chose the model - Sony DSC H50) for our anniversary and I have been playing with it since the day I got it. Among other features, it also doubles up as a decent camcorder, can detect smiles and frowns, comes with a remote, has a ton of scene modes, so I am all set! Best of all, it feels like a proper camera, with contours to accommodate bigger fingers and palms - unlike the ultra-slim pocket sized credit card cameras.

I boldly ventured out yesterday and tried taking a few pictures for getting a feel of the camera.

Kovil illadha oorla kudi irukkapdaadhu nu solluvaanga.. Church on the FG with our apartment complex behind
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Leaves fall in autumn and the branches dry up in winter. Wreaths and transported trees take their place
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Zoomed in to protect privacy
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Four separate pictures (B/W, vivid, natural color, sepia) taken from our window
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Celebrated our anniversary in a French restaurant - our first time eating French cuisine. Some observations:

1. 12 waiters took care of our 3 hour, 7-course meal (Chef's welcome, appetizer, soup, salad, main course, another main course, cheese platter and dessert)
2. The portions were seemingly minute, but was cleverly made so by the size of the plates
3. There was no salt and pepper on the table
4. Waiters actually waited. Very subtle and very professional
5. Very rarely have I had such good food when I eat out

Vaaranam Aayiram

2008-11-21T07:03:00.003-08:00

Saw Vaaranam Aayiram last weekend.
Observed the various interpretations people were giving about the title before the movie started, the most ridiculously obvious one being "1000 colors"
Movie turned out to be too sentimental; bottom line being that it was Gautam Menon's indulgence.
Loved all the songs, but heard that Gautam and Harris Jayaraj would no longer be working together. Would definitely miss the unique music style, including guys singing in effeminate voices and girls in deep voices.
My favorite song was the last one - Annul Melae panithuLi which I am currently addicted to.
I found this song in youtube and was laughing hard reading one of the comments. The guy who posted the song mentioned this was sung by Sudha Ranganathan. And the comment goes like this:

Song ellam irukkattum. Sudha Raghunathan eppo purushana maathina?

Quick one

2008-11-05T12:40:00.002-08:00

1. US election results - I am relieved and happy and hopeful

2. After more than a year in Massachussetts

Still cannot spell it right
Cannot pronounce it right

3. Surrendered my Washington state license and got MA license. Was surprised that they did not do the vision test (good for me - I didn't have to go through elaborate finger-eye adjustments to get by the test)

4. One of my favorite authors, Michael Crichton died yesterday - Nov 4th 2008. I will miss his writing.

Speechless

2008-10-01T06:47:00.002-07:00

"What do you think of all the cows that were killed in India?"

me: What cows? When?

"There was a stampede right, couple of days back?"

me: Yea, but there were no cows involved. People.

"Oh, When I saw the headline - Stampede - I thought it was a runaway herd of cows/buffaloes"

sappa matters -#13

2008-09-25T12:39:00.003-07:00

SM1: I have been reading quite a bit of tamil-based blogs and news lately. At different points in time, there have been some keywords which go around a lot. Currently, the word "oodagam" seems to be the favorite.

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SM2: Should I feel happy that the conversion rate for the dollar is 46 Rs, or feel sad that the only thing you can buy for a dollar is a McD's burger which I can't eat?

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SM3: I got the chance to read an abridged version of "Frankenstein" for a class. Few things that I got clarified immediately:

- Frankenstein is not the monster. The creator's name is Frankenstein.
- It's not a monster, rather a creature
- The author is Mary Shelley - P.B Shelley's wife

Anyway, the most interesting part of the story was this small quote which the creature tells Victor Frankenstein.

"You are my creator; but I am your master"

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SM4: Fancast.com is awesome!

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Over the top

2008-09-09T13:27:00.001-07:00

The [Ipod] Nano also features a new service called Genius, which recommends songs or movies based on a user's interests and creates playlists based on songs the user has chosen. The device will also shuffle the playlist if a user shakes it.

idhellam romba over!

Original article:

who?

2008-08-26T07:25:00.005-07:00

I don't know the name of this actor -

Registrar in Aboorva sagodharargaL
Avinashi's heart patient sammandhi in MMKR

Update: His photo -
Update: ANANTHU (Thanks Keerthi)

sappa matters -#12

2008-08-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

SM1: I don't understand the pseudo-glamorous concept behind the "sh" sounds. "Siva" is local, "Shiva" is class?

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SM2: A perfect case of heart vs brain: Saw Kuselan and desperately wanted to find loopholes to like it. But the critic in me prevented that. What's more? I had no defense against scathing criticisms by Charuniveditha and Gnani (on kumudham, needs login)

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SM3: If you say "Madras" in place of "Chennai", please don't correct yourself mid-sentence.

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SM4: Reading "Life of Pi". I can connect to the story at several levels. Have not read a more honest book until now. In fact, reading this book made me kick myself on the back and write something. ANYTHING! Hence this post.

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SM5: "It will be there until it is there"

- a simple but profound axiom I was lately impressed by.

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SM6: Went for a trail after a long time. Took this picture.

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Point of view

2008-07-17T06:57:00.007-07:00

Some pictures I took during a recent visit to the Washington Monument in DC. The obelisk structure is 555 feet tall and is made of marble, granite and sandstone. All of the photos were taken on the same day.

This was from Capitol Hill
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Walking towards the monument
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Perspective view 101
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Perspective view 102 - this is one FULL edge of the structure
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Chumma. Peela view
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The games we played...

2008-06-24T09:30:00.005-07:00

.. in school during boring classes.

Pencil cut:

A fresh sheet of paper is needed. Rarely used E.V.S -II notebook would suffice. Two, or maybe one sharp pencil (sharpness tested by poking self on the cheek, gently) required. Note that the pencil must not be too new (long) or not too short (ends before it begins).

The players choose their corners which are diagonally opposite on the sheet. Each has X arrows drawn in his corner. Position the pencil hook-down on top of first arrow (now the tactic is to keep it exactly vertical) and flick the pencil. Follow the graphite marks and draw an arrow head. The other player has to somehow cut the "current" mark of the enemy. The guy who got cut needs to restart while the other can continue on.

This may sound simple, but it requires a lot of technique and cunning. Especially during the start and very close calls. Also, it is advisable to have a referee to settle "old" marks versus current paths. There is also a genuine case of marks mysteriously disappearing and re-appearing as a "point" when an expert flick is made.

Beginners should also exercise caution when flicking too enthusiastically and thereby making the pencil land in the side benches filled with girls who scream "Miiiiisssss" at any given chance, or worse, if it hits the "miss' herself!

Brian Lara's 400

2008-06-16T09:10:00.002-07:00

When Lara batted and batted for several sessions to get to his 400 against England, the aussies said that they would never do that and instead go for the victory. Of course, the match was drawn and it was all but obvious that he did it for the record.

Saw Dasavatharam yesterday.

Now I am mad...

2008-05-30T06:20:00.001-07:00

...at myself. How can I assume that a movie which has had all kinds of production problems would be released at a set date? I happily booked tickets for Dasavatharam for June 8th through Sulekha 3 days back. Yesterday, I got an email from Boston Thamil Center that the release has been postponed to June 13th. I sent an email to Sulekha and there is no response yet.

Considering how few shows are screened in the theaters here, I did not want to miss out by waiting till the last minute. But seems like it backfired!

I hope I can use the tickets for a later show.

Quick ones

2008-04-30T10:30:00.003-07:00

Right arm all over again:

Started playing cricket after almost 2 years. First game was last saturday - more of a practice game (within the club). It was good to knock a few runs and loved fielding at point. Did not get a chance to bowl yet. I am not sure how I would fare, considering I bowl leg break and it is NOT a cricket ball - a hard tennis ball. Nevertheless, I want to try and see what happens.

If the ground dries up in time (raining for the past 2 days), we will get to play coming saturday/sunday.

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Dasavatharam audio release:

Was that the most oddest group of people sitting on a stage or what? One cannot understand tamil, one cannot talk anything but tamil, if one talks, everyone scratches their head and finally agrees that he must be meaning something substantial, one went exactly the opposite of what Sathyaraj said (and did not pull out his tongue!), one did not even attend the event...

I hope the movie lives up to its expectations. BTW, did anyone get a chance to take a look at the invitation. Gramophone-record shaped - sounds interesting.

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Grand Theft Auto 4:

Awaiting this video game is equivalent to waiting for the next Harry Potter movie/book, I am told. I saw the review of this game and it truly is mind-blowing. Some of my colleagues used to play GTA 3 - San Andreas and the sound track was phenomenal. In fact, I rediscovered reggae music through one of the radio stations played in the car of the game (!) when the protagonist/antagonist drives by doing several things unmentionable. I hope the sound track would be good this time around too.

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Rant:

Just as it is impossible to know when a swimming fish is drinking water, so it is impossible to find out when a government servant is stealing money.

- no, this is not a pseudo-intellectual dialog in some idealistic movie; rather a pretty old observation - one that by a certain gentleman named Kautilya (Chanakya) in his Arthashastra.

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Peace out!

Benefits of ageing

2008-04-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Benefit - To write an excuse of a post!

he he!

Happy Birthday to me, Raju and Charlie Chaplin.

Web minus 2.0

2008-04-11T15:13:00.002-07:00

Before the internets became a source of entertainment, information, communication, etc, it was mainly used for ____, chatting and checking madras university marks (atleast in India).

Now we live in the age of Web 2.0 with Google, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. But spare a thought for those glorious days when tamil cinema imbibed buzzwords related to IT and internet. Especially, the songs.

I was listening to this gem from Thamizhan (I think)

...
en veetin internet'il oru website undhan paeril irukku
adhil seivoma chatting
...

So that's where the concept of internets started!

BTW, have our lyricists started using Web 2.0 keywords in their songs already?

Yogamey nee vaa

2008-03-14T10:51:00.001-07:00

"Reach" and "Good music" are un-related. You cannot expect whatever you come across or just because it reaches out to you as good music. You need to look for good music.

- IR in a recent interview.

How true! It still makes sense if you replace music with any other aspiring quality.

Hypotheses

2008-02-21T04:28:00.003-08:00

Null Hypothesis:

Andrew Symonds gets subjected to monkey chant
Leaves IPL with the intervention of ICC
Foregoes $1.5 Million
Feels like a shmuck

I am going to presume this would be true until proven otherwise.

yendha saami?

2008-02-14T17:09:00.002-08:00

Dialog towards the end of Anbey Sivam:

Henchman: Enakku saami nambikka irukku thambi. Ungalukku epdiyo.
Nallasivam: Enakkum irukku
Henchman: Apdeengala. yendha saami?

Come on! What a jarring question to ask? As if it was asked just to (re-)invoke Kamal's take on Godliness.

Of course, I wouldn't complain if it was in a regular movie. But not in this classic.

News to me

2008-02-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

Well, who would have thunk?

Further, the report says the age for sexual consent should be raised from 15 to 16 for all girls, regardless of marriage. (At present a male having sex with a minor “wife” aged below 15 is punishable under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code.)

The main gist of the article was to bring down the marriage-able age of boys from 21 to 18.

Original source is from Hindu.

PS: Hesitated for 1 second before I decided to publish this.

10 oda 11

2008-01-30T17:03:00.000-08:00

With all the hullabaloo about the primaries, debates, opinion polls, mud-slings, hopes, changes, experience, UFOs, donlephants, it is easy for the average Indian living in the US to get carried away and form his/her opinion (not that they matter, but still makes a topic of discussion).

I do not understand the full process of elections in this country, but here is a recount of what I understand till now (with some humor injected, pathetically):

1. Republicans are "right"
2. Democrats are "left"
3. Some of the politicians are wealthy. Really wealthy
4. McCain is like Tendulkar
5. Whether it makes sense or not, it is fashionable to say that a democrat is going to be next president, unless of course if it comes down to Hillary vs McCain
6. Also fashionable to say that Obama is cool and calm
7. Men have to wait for the female gender to say that she doesn't like Hillary and ONLY after that can they agree
8. Same applies when wondering whether this country is ready for a black president
9. Also, have you noticed how some people take extra effort stressing "African-American" for a couple of times, and then go back to saying black? heh!
10. The kiss-of-death of Kerry is better than Bush. That is why no one really wants the current president's support
11. US politicians learnt from Lok Paritran's fate and decided to play it safe and simple

Let's see how it turns out!

Ponting

2008-01-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

The more I read about what he says, the more convinced I am that he is very similar to George W. Bush (appearance wise too!)

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T23:02:00.000-08:00

Tonight's temperature -16C; Just saying.
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Interesting shapes during the firework display
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Year of the rat!
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One of the ice sculptures on display. There is something about winning teams which could convert a non-fan!
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Too tempting, but chickened out.
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Hope we can hold our resolutions this year!

Shots in the dark

2007-11-30T15:56:00.000-08:00

Another dream, ladies and gentlemen.

A young boy is walking on a street. Now this street is not any ordinary street. It is on the war path (literally) between two nations/cities/whatever. Gun fire could be heard all around. I don't know what day or age this took (!) place, but the boy looks at the sky and he could see a steady stream of bullets flying (just like a flock of birds, just that it is even more longer but narrower). I know. Bullets travel much faster for us humans to capture its motion. But it could be that the boy has some super visual powers. I digress. Because I had to.

So, he watches the flying bullets in amazement. Apparently, some of the empty shells of the bullets fall to the gound and he looks for them, blows the smoke from it, juggles it around for a while until he can handle the heat. He has a small toy gun in his pocket which shoots with a pop sound. He puts the shell in the gun and tries to mimic a real shooting. It fires! But only produces sound and no flying objects.

But just because it produced a firing sound, and just because it was localized on the street, a policeman picks him up and places him under arrest. The boy protests - "but what about all those flying bullets in the sky? Why is no one arresting them?". The policeman says: "Well, I cannot. I caught you since I can"

My alarm rang then.

It is interesting to analyze what previous events (real ones) took place which culminate into a dream.

PS: I wish I could have edited the post better, but then it won't be fair on the dream!

... and again #3

2007-11-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

Fall colors
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All that glitters...
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... is gold!
--..--..--

So what if Dumbledore is gay?
--..--..--

Kaaka koral varaama, pinna unni kishnan koralaa varum?!
--..--..--

Who would have thunk?!
--..--..--

Have a nice week ahead!

Curious George

2007-10-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

I had no idea: Alan Shalleck (one of the creators of the Curious George cartoon series) was killed in a homicide attack. His attacker was sentenced today.

I know I am all grown up and everything, but when we were in Seattle, I used to watch Curious George in the mornings before I left for work. We also got a Curious George DVD for one of our young nephews.

Just two days ago, one of my colleagues (who is known for wearing all these funny t-shirts) wore a Curious George tee, with George lying on the floor with an open bottle of Ether which he had apparently sniffed!

www.wickedcoolstuff.com/curgeorettsh.html

Quick one

2007-10-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

Whatever differences this man had with a given community specifically, or a religion as a whole, you still have to give it to him fully when it comes to the art of politics, oratory, persuassion of following (sometimes blindly) ideologies, etc.

Sample:

"It is claimed that Hindi should be common language because it is spoken by the majority. Why should we then claim the tiger as our national animal instead of the rat which is so much more numerous? Or the peacock as our national bird when the crow is ubiquitous?"

(copied and pasted from Wikipedia, spoken by Annadurai at the Indian Parliament during 1962).

The man passed away in 1969 while still serving as CM of Tamil Nadu and 1,500,000 turned up for his funeral procession.

sappa matters -#10

2007-09-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

SM1: "Seedless watermelons are a sign of a developed country" - a passing comment

India better have some seedless dharbees!

--..--..--

SM2: The one form of cricket I love(d) to hate, and India seems to be excelling at it. Why?

--..--.--

SM3: Brainstorm. What else can they think?

--..--..--

SM4: Not that I am sleepless or anything. But from time to time, I have an extended, artistic, private session of mind car driving from point A to point B in a favorite city! Few places on earth have such smooth roads with no traffic such as the roads in the mind. Whether I fall asleep before I reach my destination or not is another story.

--..--..--

SM5: Losing touch at a few things I liked and finding touch again with some things I used to like. Life is such.

--..--..--

SM6: Hindsight is such a 36-24-36 b*tch.

New Nest

2007-09-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

A quick post:

Moved to Boston from Seattle 3 weeks back
Drove across the entire north section of the country (more about this in a later post)
Certain aspects of Boston reminds me of Madras - traffic and "electric train" inclusive
Living in a "city-based" housing and loving it
First movie in Boston - Chak De India - brilliant
Ve-ri-tas is good

Very soon

2007-07-18T13:24:00.001-07:00

sappa matters -#9

2007-07-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

SM1: Lindsay Lohan turns 21. Thank god! She can start drinking from now.

--..--..--

SM2: Proud to be American; Proud to be Ugandan; Proud to be Indian.

Do all these feelings stem from the fact that they are somehow, deep-down embarassed to be one? Something like "I give up, I am one of them" or "I am proud to be big and fat" (and I cannot or don't want to do anything about it)

--..--..--

SM3: Saw Live free or Die Hard (4). Bruce Willis is 52. And yet!

--..--..--

SM4: I know police rush to the scene when there is an accident or someone gets caught breaking the law. Especially when multiple police cars arrive on the scene, after the initital conversation and immediate things are taken care of, can't they move the police cars to the side or to the center lane? A three lane road is essentially converted to one lane.

--..--..--

World of music - 1

2007-06-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

When I logged into yahoo messenger to listen to Launch Cast, I was welcomed with this message. Adappavingala! I hope this would just be a temporary thing.

I have very fond memories of Launch cast. I first got introduced to internet radio in 2001 in those glorious grad school days, where I spent marathon hours doing assignments, projects, chatting (oh yea!), on-campus job searches, all the while listening to internet radio. Poor grad students cannot afford to buy CDs. Downloading MP3s was frowned upon in the computing centers at school. Our savior was Internet radio! So, it was first the radio player in Mtv.com, then Netscape radio, and then the my favorite - Yahoo launch cast. Raaga was the most popular source for desi music. But it's not "radio" exactly.

The beauty of radio lies in the tantalizing expectation of what would come up next. An ideal companion when one is doing other works. FM in India (I do not belong to the radio mirchi era; mine was more archaic) was a favorite past time when I was home and was not doing anything else. But I experienced it to the maximum after coming here.

You really get to discover music when you listen to radio. With all humility, I consider myself to be a pretty good music enthusiast and I attribute a large part of that to the music which I stumbled upon, actively pursued or stalked - all which had a start point from Launch Cast. Entire genres of music which have become my favorites now had to do with the "seed" sown in net radios. And the beauty lies in how broad or how deep you are willing to go to find your music.

For instance, the well known Robert Miles' "Children" can be considered as a somewhat dreamy, uplifting, ephemeral number. Once this song is rated, launch cast found Sasha's "Wavy-gravy" - a true trance classic. Then, I rate Sasha as an artist and the album (Airdrawndagger) which featured this song. Magically, the radio then plays (well, it may take a couple of days to propagate fully) Sasha and Digweed's mixed version of "The Silence - Mike Koglin" from Northern Exposure. which by itself is not an original, but a damn good number, and belongs to hard-core trance. Slowly but surely, the radio plays each song in the album and if I like them, I go buy the album. To cut a long story short, Northern exposure would remain one of my most coveted double-CDs.

Of course, not all of the listenings are based on just by chance. Sometimes I pick an artist and rate ALL his songs and albums in the launch cast website and eventually, the radio HAS to play it. Tupac, U2, Paul van Dyk, Air, Tiesto were some of the artists I actively pursue(d).

There were a lot of artists which I have rated as "uggh" so, the radio learns that too and never plays anything from that artist.

There may be other players which perform much better, but I was most comfortable with Launch cast. Given a good amount of positive and negative examples, a learning system would be able to predict/discriminate music tastes too. A very nice concept from which I hugely benefitted and am still. Even if they indeed ban Net radio, it is not the end of the world, since I already have the wind below my wings.

But I hope it won't end this way.

Public key encryption and decent paarties

2007-06-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

One of the courses I took in grad school was Applied Cryptography. This was a filler course in the Computer Systems side but was very informative and interesting. The course instructor made a counter-intuitive statement regarding secrecy of information. He said, an ecryption algorithm whose methods are not explained, is bound to be broken more easily than one whose methods are publicly available. The mathematical difficulty in breaking a code is what is more important than a "clever" way to encode things.

To be fair, Sujatha tries to use this method (serial numbers of currency notes) in Sivaji, but the whole 2-year hype and secrecy in making the movie and finally seeing the end product (after tallying with rumors of the story lines which all matched) is like a "clever" but mathematically tractable encryptyion algorithm.

But that is just the movie critic in me speaking. I enjoyed the movie since thalaivar's movies are hard to come by and and I am a die-hard fan. Perhaps if he acts more frequently or if I stop critical analysis of movies, then I could have enjoyed it more. Now, we know both of that is impossible.

Rajni has awesome screen presence and shows why he is the king of style and survived and thrived the test of time. There are not too many 55+ year olds that I know of who is as well maintained as he is. One can watch it just for the mottai boss scenes (WOW!) and Style and Adhiradi songs. In spite of the blurry print in this theatre, K.V. Anand's camera is gold. Rahman is class in songs and BGM, although there were certainly some changes made during the re-recording. Vivek outclasses everyone (including thalaivar) in most scenes. Shriya is hot in all songs and Nayanthara was a good choice for the first song, although I personally did not like the choreography (a new meaning for pot bellies!)

The story as such is nothing new but it manages to keep us entertained in chunks. It need not be this long and there seems to be some kind of a blunt scissors which was being used in the editing room.

Once again, Sujatha over-simplifies things for the common man. The scene when someone asks "what is black money, is it so called because it is black?" was the limit of being pedantic. Of course, voice-activated passwords would have had any red-blooded Comp. sci person cringe. But overall, the dialogs were pretty sharp and enjoyable. Spoofs of Chandramukhi were a riot.

Some scenes could have been totally avoided; some could have had more emphasis. I am sure Shankar would be regretting in quite a few instances. Such is the tantalizing effects of hind-sight.

I felt that the audience were too decent for my liking, especially for a thalaivar movie. There were some token screams and chants and mad celebration, but nothing when compared to a movie theatre in Madras. I remember Baasha's autokaaran song to be inaudible when I saw it. Come on people, show some crass!

For sure, Baasha is still (and would be) thalaivar's best movie and Mudhalvan, Shankar's.

To summarize, the heart loved it, the brain picks at it.

Time is ripe...

2007-05-31T22:27:00.000-07:00

... for a photo post!

That doesn't seem like a car's dash board
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Left? Right? What!
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If this could be art...
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...so could this!
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Somehow I thought it would be bigger...
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What else can you expect on a bed-sheet in a hotel named hotel@MIT ?
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;-)
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Useless fact # 7

2007-05-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

Useless fact # 7:

One-cent coins in wishing fountains mean that we have cheap dreams.

Why don't people toss larger denominations? ;-)

Cut...

2007-05-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

...the crap!

Blogging itself has become a rare event nowadays. Even if I do blog, posting about films consecutively is even rarer. In the unlikely event of that happening, posting about a hindi movie is the rarest of all events.

It did happen: Movie name is TaRaRumPum (I hope I have conveyed the subtelities in the case sensitive title in the exact manner the director wanted to). I haven't watched a lot many hindi movies, but this was absolute trash for numerous reasons.

1. It's supposed to be an NRI film. What the hell does that mean? OK, let me guess - does it take place in New York? Yes. Does it feature rampant culture confusions? Yes. Do the cast go with non-Indian names (Harry, Billy, Princess, Champ)? Yes.

2. The hero is a NASCAR dirver. F1 I can understand. Mountain biking, why not. But NASCAR?! If this movie is catered towards NRI's, you lost us right there. If it is used as more useless propaganda of "Amayrican life-style" to already confused folks in India, you scored some points. Actually, wait. Yuppies in India watch F1, not NASCAR.

3. The story is about realization. The hero is portrayed as a live-for-this-minute person, who doesn't bother to care about tomorrow. There is no background details about why he is passionate about driving or racing. But he just jumps in a taxi cab and drives like crazy. Oh, the original cab driver is actually a laid-off racing team manager! Of course, his name is Harry.

4. The pair go against the heroine's dad wishes (the only character in the movie who made some sense, inspite of him asking his daughter to have an affair with the hero and forget!) and of course buy a palatial house in some place with ponds and rustling leaves but still need to come to Manhattan to buy bread. Oh, and they get married in a car (with a preacher and all) on the way to their house.

5. Each and every scene about the hero screams that he is a prize-idiot. So, his starting point is low. Then due to momentary success in racing, he rises up. With relation to his original starting point, it seems (to him and to an extent to the heroine) that he has risen really high, but the fact that he is an idiot doesn't change. Then he falls and realizes that he is still an idiot. Ably supporting him is his wife, who apparently gets her intellect from reading Elizabethan history (WHY?), Mathematical logic(!), violin, piano, karate (ok, I added that one), but still doesn't get a college degree. Oh, and by the way, she uses an ipod and throws some flowers nonchalantly on the streets of Manhattan.

The story takes a turn when the racer's luck runs out and is rendered bankrupt since most of the things they bought are on credit. They try to convince their children (they have two model-like kids) that this is a reality-show and they should curtail their spending. But that is unchartered territory for the hero and the family struggles. I don't want to give away the story(?), but actually I may be doing a service to not put you guys through torture.

There are some dramatic elements and sequences in the movie to keep us occupied for some time in the middle. The not-so-glamorous lifestyle of NY cab drivers are shown honestly. Javed Jafery's acting was pretty well done. But the positives in the movie stop there.

I don't know where the artistic freedom ends and where assaulting of intellect starts. This is not even a spoof on over-spending or we-know-and-the-hero-knows-that-it-is-a-fun-movie. It is pretty sad to see such movies being made in the pretext of "feeling-good" and "fun".

On a normal day, I would have enjoyed animated characters in a movie, but this time, I wanted to shout "OMG! Cut the crap" when papa, mama and two bear cubs dance with the hero's family!

Irritating dialogs/sequences in movies

2007-04-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

The title says it all.

Perhaps a word or a phrase would have been sufficient, but the writer (dialogs) sometimes goes overboard and over-emphasizes things and makes a mess out of it. It could also be a situation where the actor needs to reply sarcastically, but then the writer has doubts if the sarcasm would go unnoticed and it spirals down to nothing. Or it could be that the whole sequence with the dialog is downright ugly.

An example would be the preceding paragraph where I try to over-explain what I wrote in the very first sentence!

Note: These are only opinions, and refers to parts of movies only (mostly).

1. Anniyan:
"Nee oru nasa, clarke's table, logarithm..."
- Sujatha's way of reminding us that he is an lear-ned ayyangaarvaaL from Srirangam.

2. Aaitha ezhuthu:
First things first. People happily refer to this as aayudha ezhuthu. @!*&&^

"Raatchasaa.. chandaala.. "
- Dilli's wife (I don't know the name) chiding Madhavan's character when he kicks Meera Jasmine out. Now, which cheri/kuppam female talks like this?

I am not done with AE yet!

"Testosterone, Estrogen..."
- My blood boils whenever I see this scene! Again, lear-ned ayyangaarvaL at his best.

"Pittsburgh Venkataachalapathi koil poi motta podanum..."
- Although this dialog induces vomit naturally, credit has to be given since, that is what we expect the yuppy to say

AE in many ways is Madhavan's best movie till date. Although the movie is strewn with irritating dialogs (mostly concerning Surya and Siddharth), one particular dialog by Madhavan is gold:

"padikardha uttu yeaandaaaa arsiyalukku varreengo!"

3. Padayappa:
"Nee style-a aaappdi oru salute adippiye! enga.. adi!"
- Possibly the only time Sivaji under-sold himself on screen. Even a hard core fan of thalaivar like me, hated that scene/dialog.

4. Vetayaadu viLayaadu:
"In India, we call it Raghavan instinct"
- uvve!!

5. A-aah:
There is this one sequence when a girl comes crying to S.J. Suryah since some high profile guy tried to molest her (which is quite obvious). I am not exactly sure if I am repeating verbatim, but it goes something like this:

girl: (sobbing) "avan yenna....."
suryah: "you mean.... (nods suggestively and quasi-sympathetically here) "
girl: "mmm"
suryah: "oh god/shit/whatever"
us poor audience: we get it, you pervert!!

6. Bombay:
Perhaps the second half is interesting in parts, but the first part where the hindu guy (thankfully, not a brahmin, but a saiva piLLai, nonetheless) falls in love with a muslim girl, is a gift for a bulimic patient. Almost all dialogs and sequences between these two are unbelievably horrible and artificial. The only saving grace is the song-dance element. Perhaps Manirathnam wanted to cut to the chase and take it over to Bombay as quickly as possible.

It certainly does look like I have something against Sujatha and Manirathnam. But I love the dialogs in Nayagan, Kannathil Muththamittaal, Boys (yes!) and Mudhalvan. It sometimes gets irritating when the writer assumes intellect and also think that the audience needs things to be told in an explicit manner. Stop assaulting our senses!

One of the actors of yesteryears - Major Sundarrajan had the habit of saying a dialog in english and follow it up for good measure in tamil too, just in case we didn't get it. Come to think of it, that was actually better than "Pittsburgh venkataachalapathi".

Wikipedia

2007-04-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

I feel that the list of people born on April 16th is not complete. I know atleast two names missing here. Happy B'day to them (too!).

Sights and sounds

2007-04-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

Sights and sounds #1 - Hariharan Concert, April 6th, 2007, University of Washington

This was something we were looking forward to for quite some time. Hariharan and his troupe enthralled us with their ghazals and film songs. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the function was arranged by the Vedic Cultural Center, it was a subdued event and not as gung-ho as one might expect from a playback singer. Or perhaps, this is how Hariharan performs his concerts normally. In any case, it was a feast to the ears. Not many people in the playback singing field can sing the same way in the studio and at a live concert. Hariharan is one of the few. We enjoyed the evening thoroughly.

Should we look at artists as entertainers or otherwise? I feel that if someone is talented in a field (art, sports, etc), due respect needs to be given. I seem to have a hard time understanding when a game, like cricket is played for entertainment purposes. It really doesn't help much when the artists itself say that they play for the people and for their enjoyment. I feel true art is beyond that.

--..--..--

Sights and sounds #2 - Tulip Festival, April 7th, 2007, Mt. Vernon area, Washington

This one was long due and was finally done today. With tulip fields straight out of Shankar's movie books, one can capture several hundreds of potential wall papers for their computers. The weather was kind of OK (read as not raining!) and it was only a 45 minute drive from where we live. What we saw was spectacular.

It starts something like this
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And then a bloom...
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Different races living side by side. Vanishing point is an illusion.
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Intrusion of privacy
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Heaven for many a cheesy movie!
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A now-familiar scenario!
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Soil with air pockets. Walking on portions of the field was similar to a metal ball rolling on a suspended net. Fun was had! hee hee!
--..--..--

Tulip species from various countries. 16, I recall.
--..--..--

Ok. Let's move on!
--..--..--

The Tulip festival is in full bloom during April and it is must-see for anyone visiting or staying in Seattle area. And oh, be prepared to see scores of desis!

Motivation

2007-03-20T10:50:00.001-07:00

A good proportion of non-immigrant workers are motivated to work solely for not getting laid off or fired. Another set of people work because they are stuck at that place, time and mind frame, which serves to be their "motivation". A small set of go-lucky people actually enjoy what they do and are motivated by the anticipation of impending sense of achievement and satisfaction.

A person I knew got himself motivated to come to work today because of a nightmare.

He dreamt that he was cooking for a bunch of women, who he has never met, had no idea where they came from. He was preparing some kind of dish (name not given/remembered) and was being constantly and roundly criticized by the women. So, each time, he goes back to the kitchen and starts over again or tries to repair the dish, but keeps messing it up again and again. Finally, he wakes up panting and almost screaming and decided to come to work, just to avoid such terrible nightmares. This guy swears by the microwave, would write his will to restaurants and maintains an otherwise clean counter top, since he never cooks in reality.

Partly due to the fact that this guy is a citizen makes me wonder about the varying ranges of motivation. I don't seem to get these kinds of motivating factors. I can handle a bunch of women berating me over potato curry any day!

sappa matters -#8

2007-03-02T23:30:00.000-08:00

SM1: Facts don't cease to exist just by ignoring them.

I was/am a firm believer of this statement.

(Un)related link is here.

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SM2: Ever since I got a "prediction" of how I would look when I am 50 years old, I get this urge to jump forward, somehow, and take peek into my life 2 years down. It need not be completely accurate. Atleast something which has x% chance of happening.
--..--..--

SM3: Sometimes, it is worth to play dumb. a) It might get you out of trouble. b) You might win someone's sympathy. c) It adds an unpredicatble element in your life and throws stereotyping out the window

--..--..--

SM4: Snow again. But was able to deal with it better this time.

--..--..--

SM5: This is amazing! Truly wonderful stuff.

If we assume that the entire universe is a finite space (which may or may not be true), then we (earth) probably are almost non-existent. Which brings up another thought: Are the problems faced on earth even worth mentioning when we look at the global picture?

Kudumbasthan - #1

2007-02-23T22:49:00.000-08:00

My blogging frequency has decreased alarmingly! I am guessing that the general marital lifestyle takes a while to get in-sync with blogging ;-)

So, from now until I get into the groove of blogging more frequently (or whenever I post something on the fly), the title would follow the Kudumbasthan series!

Long time since I saw someone blow bubbles!
-..--..--

Vote for Obama!
-..--..--

Multnomah falls near Portland
-..--..--

A future prediction on how TTGiant would look when he is 50!
-..--..--

Tough times
-..--..--

Only one?
-..--..--

On a high
-..--..--

Have a nice weekend!

Doubles & Triples

2007-02-01T23:05:00.000-08:00

Doubles and triples - Terms unique to India alone. Right from a child's tricycle to a fully grown adult's common mode of transportation, this has been the most fuel efficient and economic way to move in Indian roads.

But someone, for god' s sake, please stop giving bikes to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Aaah oon a bike la 2 or 3 players a tag pannindu stadium a suththi kaatta poidraan. Tholla thaangala!

I don't know if it is cute to watch it live or on TV, but it is defintely not for us poor souls who have cricinfo.com galleries as bread and butter. And why the same colored bike?

Look for yourself:

* All pics from cricinfo.com

Fourplay

2007-01-22T23:05:00.000-08:00

Whenever adharma rises its head over dharma, Lord Vishnu visits this lowly, mostly bluish planet called Earth (No!, this is not an after effect of watching the wonderfully made AaLvaar!). Recently the collective bad behavior of humans with some help from an entity called vague-reason is causing a not-so-trivial matter called Global Warming. Perhaps this time around, the avatar is incarnated in the form of weirdo weather phenomena. For instance, the ongoing winter storms in the US, collective rise and drop in temperatures, etc.

There was a snow storm in Seattle during November 2006 (it rarely snows here, I was told), while I was safely tucked away in India. Perhaps Lord Vishnu took pity on me since I was anyway getting married (just kidding!!). So I escaped that 4 hour commute back home which normally takes 30 minutes. Not to mention that plane services were cancelled. After a while, all was fine.

We came back, well rested and all and I started my usual cribbing about the evergray skies over Seattle when the wind god from the arctic (not very far from here, by the way) started pushing his way through, turning everything into white. My first thought was - Wow, my first snow fall!

So, the day came. Although impossible, the skies darkened even more. Then hail fell. Followed by rain drops. But these rain drops were mysteriously slow in falling. And they were white. SNOW! The initial snow flakes were too weak to coat the roads. That's a weak-a$$ snow fall. I didn't know why people were complaining about this.

Once frozen, twice thawed, our vanpool driver dropped us back home by starting early this time, although there were already accident reports near the passes and places situated in higher altitudes. All through the evening and well into the night, the snow flurries fell, bit by bit.

By morning, it was completely white. All white. At last, I had a chance to actually touch them in a perceptible manner. They felt lighter than what I expected. My colleagues asked me if I liked the snow fall. I vigourously nodded my head, little knowing that what a mess it is going to create in the next 2 days to come.

Because, you see, Seattle is not equipped enough to deal with snow storms. No salting, no sanding, very few snow mobiles (actually, they are garbage disposal trucks fitted with some sort of a contraption) to clear up the areas. And untreated snow, melts in the evening, and turns into ICE, if the temperature is low enough. I was expecting a frozen icicle or two. But no! the entire apartment area and the parking lot was iced enough to hold a skating competition. And the fun started!

Driving on ice is an art. Of course, chains might help, if you have one and if you are used to fitting them and are sane enough to stay outside until that time. We were talking in tongues by the time we cleared the snow/ice on the car. Luckily, my vanpool driver agreed to pick me up from my apartment complex, so I did not have to drive on ice. But there were several reports on the TV and radio of accidents on the interstate, state roads and local roads due to ice. We ventured cautiously that evening (or maybe the next) not going more than 25 mph. Right in front of us, there was a stretch which was glistening with ice and an SUV swerved and skidded on it. But somehow the driver maintained balance and it was fine. Our car has a front wheel drive and we managed without much trouble, although stopping and making a left turn was a bit hairy.

I was under the impression that the four-wheel drives were much safer, but most of the accidents (which came with photos) that happened in the southern ice storm featured these big SUVs and trucks. Perhaps none of the sedans ventured out that time? My friend told me that he saw a beemer SUV spinning in the same spot 360 degrees for quite some time and then the driver gave up!

The ice was the worst part of the storm, which later broke and mixed with debris and dirt becoming sludge. Driving on this was not very hard, as long as you don't have to change lanes. God bless your soul if you are making a left from the middle lane. I did not try it.

It was kind of sad and strange to see the car covered with snow. My first fear was that the car would not start. But thanks to the current technology, that was not a problem. Luckily, all through this, I did not have any major skids or engagement of ABS. For first timers like us, this link might be of help. For veterans living in the NE, idhellam sappa matters!

sappa matters -#7

2007-01-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

SM1: The irony is unbearable. The very rain which was despised so much in Seattle area is now welcomed during winter months. Considering the alternative makes one's teeth chatter "Damn, I miss FL!"

--..--..--

SM2: Continuation of FL puraanam: I still use my FL area code for my cell phone, much to the chagrin of my local friends and colleagues who have to dial long distance to reach me. When we were getting an additional line for her, we were asked whether she needs a 425 or 206 area code. Ha! If that happens, then it would mean long distance between our phones (although it's mobile-mobile plan). Just to make T-Mobile's life "easier" (and thereby missing FL lesser!), we ended up creating a number with the same FL area code. Now who else has done that! Who else on earth?

--..--..--

SM3: Why is it still called "dialing" a number? And why am I trying to imitate Seinfeld in whining about nothing?

--..--..--

SM4: My very close friend is also leaving FL to pursue his career elsewhere. My last bit advice for him - put up a tent on the beach and spend the last 2-3 days there. Best of luck, BBT!

--..--..--

SM5: Visit to the zoo this time around was different in every aspect! Animals have taken a beating due to the cold, except the native ones. Took some pictures whenever our fingers were not frost-bitten. But it was an enjoyable trip.

--..--..--

SM6: Which home project could be complete without a fair dose of smashed fingers and fruity language? But the futon still holds our collective weights and there is a happy engineer in the cold North-West.

--..--..--

Single-a poittu double-a thirumbi vandha kadhai

2006-12-28T21:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have a good excuse for my prolonged absence.

Yep. TTGiant is now a grishastha. It was never meant to be a yet-another India trip. Right from the get-go, preparations, tensions, anxiety took their priorities in time and space. A good 6 months of ordered chaos was finally culminating into something tangible. Ok, that's enough of word play. Let's get down to some photos already!

Almost there. In Singapore.
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Sparks flew like this during our first outing. Unrelated picture - Elliots beach.
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Pandal - Theoretically cannot leave the house after this. Ha!
--..--..--

"Ooty" varai uravu!
--..--..--

Idhellam over! - Prior to engagement
--..--..--

Last few moments of single-ness
--..--..--

Trying to escape!
--..--..--

All's well that ends (begins!) well
--..--..--

(not) sappa matters - #7

2006-11-21T11:58:00.000-08:00

NSM1: This India trip is going to be different in every which way. It has been a wonderful 4-5 months till now and as Ian Chappel says: The pacing has been to perfection. That said, I am looking forward to meeting the person who bowled me out with a searing in-swinging yorker!

--..--..--

NSM2: Perhaps I am just getting the taste of what Seattle really is, but this rain has been too much. It has been raining all this month, a good half of the previous, and at this stage, would be raining by the time WE come back next month. Oh, and there is this small matter of Nov 1933 being the wettest month (15 inches or so) which would be drenched in no time now.

--..--..--

NSM3: My ironing capabilities are pathetic. Consider this: I started to iron a shirt which was as crumpled as a love-letter with typos at 10 PM yesterday and somehow ended up crumpling it even more at about 10:30. Give me jeans any time; I can iron it in a jiffy!

--..--..--

NSM4: This is definitely not funny Kramer. What is it with these people who say what they like and then apologize that they are not-racist. I liked him so much in Seinfeld and would wait to watch re-runs everyday. Now, I am not too sure.

--..--..--

NSM5: Hail storm in Seattle! Perfect!

--..--..--

NSM6: Perhaps, this one is not as significant as the above ones. ;-) But I had to throw it in.

This could be the last post (as a single guy) of a single guy in the US who lived with almost no cares, no fear and enjoyed bachelor life as much, did several crazy things which he might have to think twice now, sometimes, not even attempt to think about, who is now ready in all ways for getting his rough edges trimmed and (gulp!) mellow down a bit! But he is ready, no doubt.

--..--..--

Gentleman's game

2006-11-09T23:39:00.000-08:00

Wonderful!

First of all, as I feared, Australia won the cup, complete with the team posing with the trophy giving their grinning/winning smiles. Ricky Ponting must be one cricketer everyone loves to hate now. Of course, he has been successful - which was duly acknowledged by the ICC awards. But the smugness, oh the smugness! And his incessant backing of his team-mates even though they talk trash. As RK says, as far as Australia is concerned, humility is NOT a virtue. Seri, ozhinji pogattum! They are winners. That cannot be taken away.

But there were other things which made the past week interesting:

1. Ponting's whine stating West Indies did not come to the awards;

2. Ponting pointing Pawar to step away from the dias;

3. Martyn "ushering" Pawar away!

4. The media's collective gasps of aghast and shock;

5. Tendulkar's statement of Pawar being a dear - what the hell is that? Was that a typo? Maybe it was fear.

6. Pawar attending an un-related and otherwise useless event and cleverly shielding questions on cricket saying, "This is not a cricket meeting";

7. Cricket Australia trying to probe into the incident;

8. Martyn apologizing half-heartedly;

9. Pawar saying that he brushed off the matter, but still goes on to say that Australians were uncivilized;

10. The great man also continues by saying, "Yea, I will take an apology and move on, but no offence meant or taken"!

11. Finally, Ponting's confused apology given with his trademark confused expression not very dissimilar to one Mr. George Duyba Bush's;

I am trying to find out which one of these makes me cry or laugh harder.

Have a good weekend, though!

Wessyde

2006-11-03T23:11:00.000-08:00

My friend RK enjoys pulling my leg on account of my "non-IT" area (in the traditional sense). Of course, I give it right back at him saying he spends too much time typing in Word or Powerpoint (kaeyta, saaptware requirements specification nu solluvaan).

Anyway, one of the benefits of being in research are these occasional conferences which we get to attend. The conference venues are selected by keeping the time of the year and likely weather at the place. Canada, Jappaan pakkathula irukura Seattle lerundhu yenga ponaalum better thaan! So, when the venue was Long Beach, CA, it was an added bonus.

The conference was The 5th HUPO World Congress - Human Proteome Organization. I had to take 4 posters from my lab and had a presentation to make on the final day. One of my colleagues also came to the conference.

We had to carry these rocket-launcher kind of tubes in the plane. Had a nice time watching people scampering away in horror!
--..--..--

LBC: The airport ended as soon as it started. Never seen such a small airport. But the sun! the beautiful bright sunshine! I did not mind the over-exposure (of this picture, that is)
--..--..--

The conference was at the Long Beach Convention Center. Nice to see wiiiide roads and palm trees of the west-coast again
--..--..--

Light blocked by the light house
--..--..--

Congregation of birds with the Queen Mary in the backdrop. The conference banquet was held in the ship. But we had to leave on an earlier flight
--..--..--

A real beach, at last!
--..--..--

The downtown area had a lot of places to eat and hang out. Haloween night was pretty interesting. I was looking forward to this trip for another reason too; hometown of Snoop Dogg!

I also attended the conference in between(!). Actually, it was a pretty productive 4 days. There were quite a few nice talks and presentations - certainly learnt a lot. A welcome break after joining the new job and a nice chance to recharge.

Long and short of it

2006-10-22T17:36:00.000-07:00

Writing a post - after a long time. You guys must be tired of my excuses now, so I am not even attempting to give one.
Sprained my neck - after a long time. Perhaps an indication of what's in store for the future - blinders! But seriously, I almost forgot how painful it could be.
Saw stars last night - after a long time. While I was waiting for prasadam on a cold deepavali night at the temple, I happened to look up (due to the neck strain, that was the only direction I could) at the relatively less-light-polluted sky, and saw hundreds of stars. Pretty interesting that we miss out the nicer and smaller things in life nowadays!
Watched a really good movie - after a long time. The Prestige. Very well directed and played out. I was truly captivated by Nikola Tesla, who played an integral part of the script. This guy was brilliant! Why don't we see block-buster scientists like him now?
Had a decent lunch at a desi restaurant - after a long time. Of course, "decent" is a relative term, but still, this exceeded my expectations.
Might have single-handedly crashed yahoo's voice server - well almost, considering the tricks and tactics I applied and made full use of their "Call India for free during Deepavali".
Deepavali or Diwali. Narakasura vadham or Ram(a)'s home-coming after killing Ravan(a). Nalla pattimandra thalaipugaL.

Peace out!

sappa matters -#6

2006-10-06T23:53:00.000-07:00

SM1: Apart from making it easy to prepare questions for an exam, what is the logic behind asking students to memorize stuff?

--..--..--

SM2: "You would be asked to do just 3 things. Do that - nothing more, nothing less" - advice from a newly married man, in a slightly inebriated state.

--..--..--

SM3:

He definitely did not expect the situation to come to this. The little s*** slid over his body - teasing him. His patience was being tested. He doesn't like to be teased a lot. Touchy guy!

Normal days (or nights!) would take him 15-20 minutes to complete the "deed", but not this time! This little s*** was more than a match for him and was getting him all worked up!

As time went by, it was getting too hard and wet for him to handle. It was getting late. He needs to get ready to work. But the s*** was taking its own sweet time. This was just too much. He had to show who the man was.

Completely enraged, he yells - "Come here, you little piece of s***!" He forgot how strong he was. SNAP! - it was all over before he realized it. Now he felt sorry!

Desi Males - apart from Irish spring, Dial and the rare Indian soap, what other choices do we have?

--..--..--

SM4: Was watching some random comedy scene from a tamil movie on the 'net. The setting was a street in a village. There was some kind of a wall (whitewashed), maybe somebody's house

The following was on the wall: "<- - - DMK full - - >".

Guy has reserved space future posters and DMK related graffiti in somebody's wall. And no other political party can take that space. Poster etiquette, you see. Democrazy works splendidly.

--..--..--

... and again -#2

2006-09-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

This summer has been a blessed-one as far as far as weather was concerned (perhaps due to the migration of a certain owl from FL). So, I have been trying to make the best use of it!

Full ice-u!
--..--..--

Shadow check!
--..--..--

Recursive voyeurism
--..--..--

Light at the end of a short tunnel
--..--..--

It's a bird!
It's a plane!
It's another plane!
--..--..--

Effective immediately, we are cutting web-productions by 75%
--..--..--

Obsessed with Rainier
--..--..--

Go count!
--..--..--

sappa matters -#5

2006-09-15T22:47:00.000-07:00

SM1: If you wear prescription glasses, how does it affect your vision when you dream? Has anyone (in the dream) ever said "Nice frames"?

--..--..--

SM2:

Ambiguity - I found this written on a white board near the office break area:

"Please don't steal my fruit cake. Thank you"

below which was added:

"It has been in my family for a long time"

What is "It" here?

--..--..--

SM3: Popeye is very angry.

--..--..--

SM4: If somebody is leaning over your computer and typing his/her password in to a program (for whatever reason), how many keystrokes must you wait before turning to face the screen?

--..--..--

SM5: On a related note - I am getting annoyed when people say "I am not a computer person". Seriously, what does that mean?

--..--..--

Make sentences with - 2

2006-09-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

I had been to watch Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu last night at Totem Lake Cinemas near Kirkland. It was a decently made movie and there are already umpteen number of reviews written. But a small incident during the movie sparked a key-word in my mind and from then on, words were just flying all over the scenes.

Now I am not sure if the experience was worth 12 bucks (it might very well have been), but it certainly provided enough fodder for me.

Note: This post is just for fun, so I advise fans of Gautham not to get in their autos and come visit me in chilly, rainy Edmonds!

So here goes Make sentences with: with respect to Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu -

1. Poor: The sound quality in the theatre was so poor that we were left wondering if the operator was streaming the movie from a website.

2. Remuneration: On account of so many words being censored, the remuneration given to the (dubbing) artist(s) were halved.

3. Early-starter: Kids brought to the theatres to watch gore, violence and sex should thank their parents' good intentions on making them early-starters.

4. Anticipate: Somehow, everyone (must have) anticipated who would play the role of Jothika's mom.

5. Excuse: Just by mixing some random scenes of the police investigating in between an otherwise un-necessary song is excuse enough.

6. Culture: But hey, atleast the models were not wearing bikinis in the song - the culture was hence saved!

7. Irony: Even if 50 cents' In da club is played by mistake in a dicey situation, it is ironical that the girl could still makes good moves with the villain. Such is the power of music!

8. Self-explanatory: Even a liberal left-winger like Kamal's take on homosexuality was self-explanatory from his dialogs... and also gives away the general notion of the audience which was evident from the guffaws.

9. Victory: Inspite of all this, the audience rarely (spare the introduction) cheered for Kamal as a hero and completely accepted him as a police officer which itself is a victory for Kamal and Gautham.

Just for fun!

Earlier post on Make sentences with.

sappa matters -#4

2006-09-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

SM1: Realized that Feta cheese (like blue cheese) has an acquired taste!

--..--..--

SM2: Sunglasses can make anybody look cool. Beware!

--..--..--

SM3: Edited chat transcript:

Me: This monday is a holiday. Labor day. :D

Friend: Yes, I know. XXYY (IT company in India) follows the American holiday calendar. So they have monday off too.

Me: Interesting!
Me: So what about Deepavali and Pongal?

Friend: Of course, that-and-all is always there!

Me: !!!!

--..--..--

SM4: I am amazed at Mani Rathnam's spirit in National Integration, unity in diversity, secularism et al when he made Kitty (a hindu) act as a muslim and Nasser act as a saiva-pillai in "Bombay". Illaina, character will become biased sir.

Wow! Talk about being subtle. * Saracasm spoiler *

--..--..--

SM5: As long as we are still talking about movies, let's get this thing over with too.

When the tamil film industry was in tatters, even actors like Kamal Hassan had to resort to comedy. If that was the case with stalwarts like Kamal, there is nothing wrong if mere mortals like tt_giant has to resort to photo blogs and sappa matters for a while!

Racing against time

2006-08-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

Obviously August is one of the driest months in Washington and so is the posting frequency in this blog. Not exactly busy, but let's just say that I was engaged... in doing other things!

However, I did have time to go for a hike to a mountain called "Silver Peak" in the Snoqualmie area. Not sure if I would be able to do hikes of this sort after a while. Got to make hay while the sun still shines - I mean, winter would be here soon! ;)

The car, the bag, the mountain!
--..--..--

Nice, still, cold, quiet, lake
--..--..--

Safe to eat or not? But I am still alive!
--..--..--

What lies beneath
--..--..--

All the way there?
--..--..--

Do you call that snow?
--..--..--

Now that's snow. Rainier himself!
--..--..--

It was a nice (and long) hike to reach the peak. Hoping to make a few more of these in the near future before the baby-face Seattle starts crying again!

Have a nice day!

PS: I was wrestling with blogger for the past 2-3 days. For some vague reason, the image upload feature was buggy. Anyway, I think I deserved that for being lazy.

sappa matters -#3

2006-08-09T07:35:00.000-07:00

SM1: Atlantic Hurricane predictions lowered - This is such a slap on my face. It is as if the east coast was waiting to get rid of me, and once I did get out, the hurricane family decides - aah well, he ain't there no more!

--..--..--

SM2: Performed Aavani-avittam with one yagnopaveetham possibly for the last time! ;)

--..--..--

SM3: Please, somebody, anybody, side up with me when I say New York City is over-rated!!

Intelligent dreams - 2

2006-07-31T20:24:00.000-07:00

Now this is getting way too weird. What is it about me dreaming about cars?

Get this: In the dream, I am in a car with 2 steering wheels - one in the front, one in the back, diagonally opposite to each other. Someone takes one look at it and says:

"Do I even have to ask?".

I go - "What? I need to come back from wherever I go, right?"

I don't know what is happening in that head of mine.

Shameless self-promotion: Intelligent dreams -1.

Grunge at the Gorge in George, Washington

2006-07-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

Almost sounds like a tongue-twister, doesn't it?

I went to this place in Eastern Washington (literally in the middle of nowhere) for a Pearl Jam Music Concert (An evening with Pearl Jam) with one of my colleagues. This was one of the most awaited concerts this summer in the Pacific Northwest for several reasons: This amphitheatre has been voted the best outdoor venues for 9 straight years, Pearl Jam is one of the best bands in performing live and Pearl Jam hails from Seattle, WA.

Some hoots:

The amphitheatre is set in a backdrop of the Columbia river, where the river has naturally dug out the gorge over years of erosion and wind-action.
The lower portion of the theatre contains seats, but the upper ones have grassy slopes (similar to Woodstock!).
Yesterday, around 25,000 people attended the concert
The performance was pretty high-energy and the atmosphere was electric. Not to mention that the temperature was boiling hot.
I am truly amazed at how much effort the band put in yesterday for 3 full hours consistently.
I learnt the meaning of the phrase "Parental guidance advised".
The police in Eastern Washington generally do not have much to do year-around except during these concerts! Needless to say, they were trying to dampen the "high-spirits".
Everybody had their share of second-hand smoke (tobacoo and "others").
Most likely, I was the only desi.

Altogether, my first concert of this kind and truly worth the long drive.

sappa matters -#2

2006-07-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

SM1: Generation gap - If it takes you more than 2 minutes to send a 2 line SMS, then you belong to an older generation.

--..--..--

SM2: Somebody, please tell me: What is the best way to let a driver of another car know that he/she has left the indicator lights on?

--..--..--

SM3: Conversation at my work place:

Me: So are you going to watch Pirates - part 2?
Other guy: Yea! Johnny Depp is amazing! He looks totally drunk the whole movie!
Me: Yea, that was good acting, considering the fact that he is supposedly a tee-totaler.
Other guy: What's a tee-totaler?
Me: * adapppaavingala! *

... and again

2006-06-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

With strict adherence to Useless facts # 6:

Going, going, gone!
--..--..--

Liked this one of Che Guevara
--..--..--

Either it's the bleeding obvious or someone doesn't like Saddie!
--..--..--

Thazhuvudhu Nazhuvudhu!
--..--..--

Crystal clear
--..--..--

We are microsoft desis and we all have sony cybershot cameras!
--..--..--

Any more closer?
--..--..--

Water striders and their shadows
--..--..--

ThandavaaLathula mariyal senjaa...
--..--..--

...Guantanamo bay dhaan..
--..--..--

Have a nice weekend!

Blissful ignorance

2006-06-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

American: Football is the best game ever
Non-American: I agree with you.

It's a win-win situation!

Intelligent dreams

2006-06-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

"Do you have any dried tamarind flowers?"

"Why?"

"Sprinkle them on your car's engine - that would help in getting better mileage"

"What?! That doesn't even make sense!"

"You can get dried tamarind flowers from the local Rajasthani store"

"WHAT!"

At this point I realized that I was shouting WHAT in my bed, clearly disturbed by the dream. What did I do to deserve such pearls of wisdom? Kekule solved the benzene ring problem in his dream and I get this? Not fair at all!

Maybe I should try the flowers and if it works, watch out!

Have a nice weekend!

Fruits

2006-06-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

What would we do without them? They are absolutely essential to us, but still many of us don't give the due respect they deserve. Without fruits, we might be exposed to serious malfunctions and troubles. And despite all the good things fruits provide us, they can easily turn sour when they come in contact with a rotten specimen.

But there are some fruits which never rot, irrespective of what is done or where they are. I am referring to FRUITS (pazham a.k.a nerds) whom we meet in our day-to-day life! Don't we really try hard to "change" them?

At school, it is pretty easy to recognize them in a room: most often than not, they are front benchers (not because of height, but due to their enthusiasm), teacher's pets, jump to answer any question, ask for permission for opening a geometry box, etc. We, the "normal" students, would not be caught dead talking to them in a general sense, but would need them for copying forgotten homeworks. For some reason, most of the fruits belong to the male gender (maybe there are pazhams in the opposite sex too, but I don't know), and are gun shy talking to them, so at any given oppurtunity, we would innocently push them in a girl-group and walk away snickering! Actually, the fruits should thank us for helping them to initiate communication with girls, well before we did it!

As is the case with most of the schools in TN, almost everyone becomes seriously involved in studies at their 10th, 11th and 12th classes. Yenna periya studies - mug ashhtu poindey iru. Yet, the fruits manage to outbeat us by scoring 100% even in class tests. Class tests, for God's sakes! And as always, they are the ones who cream the board exams and the entrance exams.

Some of the pazhams solidify at college level, since biologically speaking, the hormones kick in and you just cannot afford to be the same pazham in vadikattina paal. But not all pazhams change. I know a guy in college who, until the final year, mugged everything in the textbook. And there was this other guy who would skip lunch that day if he scores anything less than 90 in a unit/class test! There was this pazham whom I have never heard utter an expletive - he used to say swimming fool, for example. During the last day of a semester, there was this fruit-salad who questioned a girl why she was flinging paper rockets in class and I can still picture the girl's amazed expression which said "Man, act alive!". And even at college level, the teachers compare others with them. We tried to corrupt them by any means necessary, but ALL failed. Maybe it was due to the fact that these things were done in a notorious college where the pazhams feel right at home. In any case, we were unable to do anything to them.

After graduating from college, it was difficult to come across new fruits. My graduate school friends were all veteran convicts. So it was kind of a struggle to cope up all those strange CS concepts by ourselves. We really missed fruits during that time. After all, they made good friends and helped us a lot during exams.

At work they are even more rarer. But I did manage to locate one in one of past jobs. He is a post-doc, comes from an affluent family, and is a mega-fruit. If I need to have some fun for a change during work, all I need to do is to ask him if he knew a certain person (hyothetical) in a so-and-so university's department. Once I asked him if he knew Dr. Dre who works at UCLA, specializing in chronic liver disease studies. He spent the next 15 minutes searching for Dr. Dre's publication records in PubMed but could not find anything. He was confused since he graduated from UCLA. So, then I asked him if he knew "Dr". Patrick (I am sorry, I cannot give the link) who specializes in gynecology at UC Davis. He could not find that one too and was getting "weird" search results! After I finished rolling in laughter, I told him that Dr. Dre was a rapper and "Dr". Patrick was not even close to being a professor. All in good spirits. He was a good sport.

Fruit friends - What can we do without you?

sappa matters - #1

2006-06-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

SM1: Selvaraghavan and Yuvan Shankar Raja must be competing against each other at one-up-manship. A court-room scene in the screwed-up-applet movie is lifted straight from Godfather II. YSR saamaanyanaa enna? He goes one step ahead and flicks the background score from the same movie - settling all doubts of the perplexed viewer. YSR leads by one point.
Update: In retrospect, I liked the movie.

--..--..--

SM2: Although it had nothing to do with my line of work, I attended a seminar today just because it had "statistics" in the title. Adhaan "statistics", "IT", "computer" ellam orey jaadhi dhaaney! But it was pretty interesting. The presenter was describing how "efficient" the Effbeeai is in its investigations when it comes to scientific opinions, particularly ballistic reports. All those shots taken from the bullet's perspective in CSI - don't fall for it!

--..--..--

SM3: Overheard at a cafeteria -

Person1 - Don't let nobody take my place!
Person2 - I won't.

What was asked and what was answered?!
Man, this is a complex world we are living in!

--..--..--

SM4: I am not sure if we need to take proverbs seriously. For example, would you be biased about something based on your first impression?

Useless fact # 6

2006-05-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

Useless fact #6:

If a photo related post appears in the middle of the week for no reason, it must mean that the blogger is shoopa busy!

I have been terribly busy for the last few days... ok, ok, last 10 days, so enjoy my absence until I am back!

Optic fibres during day time
--..--..--

Sim-et-ri
--..--..--

Waiting for the spell to be broken
--..--..--

2D of a tree-D
--..--..--

Enough already!
--..--..--

I am escape!

Infamous

2006-05-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

in-fa-mous
adj.

Having an exceedingly bad reputation; notorious
Causing or deserving infamy; heinous

I know that I am all that and more, but this was least expected! I guess the logical thing now is to expect a few auto-loads of thondars come to rainy Seattle!

Someone in Google, please change the index or something!

TN Elections 2006 - Aftermath

2006-05-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

The DMK led alliance is all set to form the new government in Tamil Nadu. What this means to the people is something to wait and watch. In WB and Kerala, the left would be forming the government. In the meantime, an attempt at reading the minds of some of the people who were involved in this election:

NOTE: This is just for fun!

M. Karunanidhi: Thank "god!". Dayanidhi Maran's hacking device in the EVMs worked!
M.K. Stalin: Damn! He is 83 and still becomes the CM. When is my turn?

Jayalalitha: Ok! Time to get the paper shredders out. And, somebody, for god's sake fix that astrologer!
Vaiko: Ulladhum ponadhada nolla kanna!
Thirumaavalavan (DPI): Does this mean that I need to return the suitcases back?!
Sarath Kumar: Oh Lord! What was I thinking?

Lok Paritran1: You dunces cannot even understand Schrodinger wave equation or Theory of relativity. How can we expect you to comprehend our manifesto?

Lok Paritran2: Let's all go and beat Manirathnam up!

Vijayakanth: Wow! I actually won!

Left: LOL! I can't believe that communism is still selling!

People: Yaay! free color TV and cheap rice!
NRIs: *grumbling* Rice is bad for health man.

Take it easy!

iSight - a poem(!)

2006-05-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

Blessed with the vision of a kite,
his dad proud that it was from his side

Reading distant boards and signs were his hobbies,
much to the anger of his sister who wore soda buddis

In spite of being among bats who complained of headaches,
who got prescription glasses by a wily doctor, making no mistakes

He was blessed.

But as the saying goes, "pride goes before fall",
he started playing video games, illegal cable and all

Time passed, he noticed a change in his blessing,
but pretended that it was just in passing

Working with computers did not help matters,
for his rods and cones were getting away in platters

Seeing his friend leave his glasses on the table, he tried it
wonders and curses!, the room seemed clearer; damn it!

The angel on his right shoulder said "don't worry; LASIK in due course",
but the devil on his left grinned: "not your dad's, your mom's side, of course"

GM

2006-04-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

Ad on radio:

"...2007 GM cars, now available for 0% APR, lower than invoice price...."

Person 1: "2007 models? Already? But it's only April 2006!"

Person 2: "Yea, well, since GM realized they are not improving their cars anyway, they might as well brand them as 2007!"

GM: Yeppidi irundha naan, ippidi aaiten!

Blue skies actually

2006-04-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Wonders of wonders! This weekend was by far the sunniest and driest since I moved to Seattle. Viduveyna? Kulukki pottu paarthadhil, jackpot for ZOO!

From atop a small overhead bridge on the way to the zoo
--..--..--

Pariseshanam pannindey poiduthu...Almost human!
--..--..--

Dei! idhu Dubai illa.. Cochin daa!
--..--..--

Watching a grizzly bear is truly a sight to behold!
--..--..--

Who is watching who?
--..--..--

I am escape!
--..--..--

Somewhere there is an angry baby...
--..--..--

daankeys

2006-04-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Vivek in Minnale: Nammala maari daankeys dhaanda yenakku berthuday, yenakku berthuday nu yellaar kittayum yaylam vittikittu iruppaanga!

onnum illa... podhuvaa sonnen. he he!

PS: Wish Mr. North-easter Raju too!

I'll be mozart

2006-04-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

Oh my god! Was it really me? Is it possible that I was being cynical in the past few posts without realizing it? I mean, I am sarcastic and all, but when did this dark side prop up (I can see Slash grinning and Raju concurring)

The sad part was that I was pretending it was just a natural/emotional phase of life, but today, in a split instant, I realized that was not the case.

Bottom line is: I am missing Florida. A whole lot. EVERY DAMN THING here is different. Funniest thing is that I never felt that way when I moved from Arizona, or dare I say, from India (maaaybe not), although I have stayed much longer in those two places. Strange are nature's ways.

But I am sure I will adapt and will be in full flow soon. It should not be long before we see posts more or less like:

1. Make sentences with
2. They spun a web for me
3. Instant karma
4. To get one or not to get one
5. Sambaaril paayasam
6. Cat policing

I know, I know. That was a typical Deepakesque cheapshot. Of course, one should marvel my audacity in actually assuming that the above old posts were "classics"!

Inevitable

2006-04-11T20:30:00.000-07:00

Why does talking about arranged marriage inevtiably bring fate, destiny, and such philosophical thoughts when talking to a local here?

And why does our counter-arguments to theirs always (unwarrantedly) pulls in the divorce-rate fact existing here?

And lastly, why does the same topic when spoken with Indian friends come out so matter-of-factly without BS-101?

I am just saying.

Alpa sandhosham #1*

2006-04-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

* guilty pleasure

- When people in everyday life or characters in films refer to Madras as Madras and not as Chennai!

Green Greed

2006-03-29T21:45:00.000-08:00

What actually goes on in a person's mind when money is in play is simply inexplicable. Of course, there is the bleeding obvious that the person keeps wanting more and more. However, if there is no thought or hard work involved on the way, then it all crumbles to pieces.

From a viewers' perspective, there is just so much joy (how sick can I get?) in watching people make "decisions" which they think would pave the way to a better position, only for them to realize that they had infact been making the wrong decisions each and every step.

I was watching a show on NBC called "Deal or No Deal", which by far has to be the most money minded game show that has ever been made. Atleast, in other game shows like "Who wants to be a millionaire" or "Jeopardy", there is the aspect of General Knowledge, although some of the questions asked in these shows reek of extermely localized cultures. Nevertheless, the participant has to answer these questions rightly to "earn" the money. But, not in this show.

"Deal or No Deal" is based purely on probability, more specifically on diminishing odds. There are 26 briefcases with various amounts ranging from 1 cent to 1 million dollars. First, the player chooses one case and keeps it aside (as a lifeline). In the first "round" of the game, the player must pick 6 cases at random for elimination from the game (they claim that nobody knows which amount is in what case). The 26 amounts are divided into 13 small ones and 13 large ones (all increasing in value). Just by simple probabilty, the chances of eliminating 1 million is very small. So, more often than not, the player usually picks smaller amounts, possibly one large amount (like 40,000) in the first round. Now, 40,000 itself is big, hell, anything more than 1 dollar is big if it is given away! But you should see the player's face, reaction and smart-ass comments when various amounts are eliminated. "It's not bad, I have bigger ones left", or "YeahH!!", and "Whooo!", when they toil to get rid of 20 bucks. Yevan kaasu... kadacha varaikum laabam.

So, after the player successfully fields the tough moments to eliminate 6 cases, based on the value of the remaining ones (also considering the hidden value of the first case which was set aside), a "banker" gives them a deal to stop right there and leave. In most cases, the first offer would be around 40,000 - 50,000 (unless the player was extremely bad in guessing 6 big amounts). Being the true, hot-blooded human that the player is, he/she slams the table saying "No deal!" (they seem to relish saying that!) coupled with an unmistakable expression that flatulates of self-importance. The player thinks that he made a good decision, but that is when Mathematics starts its strip-tease. He has to choose 5 more cases for elimination.

Endlessly egged by the audience and by their own luck/fortune, players end the next round with an amount that normally is more than the first offer. The American dollar has a nickname - Greenback, or green. Not surprisingly, it resembles the word "Greed" too. So, another "No deal!", - followed by a smug expression and a re-assuring look.

In today's case, the player was offered 22,000 first time, 67, 000 next, 100+ next, 130+ next, all of which she rejected with the most emphatic "No deal!". Now I wouldn't have written this post but for one of the comments made by the player's mother in the audience. She said that everyone in her family was wearing green today, since green represents money and fortune.

Now that made me see red. From that point on, I was rooting against her to loose more than what she had before. But I did not have to break a sweat, since our dear old Mathematics abruptly changed her strip-tease to a whipping game. The player had 2 more big amounts left and was asked to choose one case. She picked one of the big ones. No smug expressions this time. Still, she could have left with almost 80K, but she said she was going all the way. All the way, she WILL go. Choose another case! - bang! - the last big one was also eliminated. Now it was my turn to say YEAAH and Whoo!

She left with 20+,000.

I have been vindicated.

Black to Brown

2006-03-25T13:22:00.000-08:00

I am not sure how this has happened. But apparently it has. Today I got my Washington state driving license and my eye color has been marked as brown!

The officer had looked at my passport which clearly says black, but by some "hi-tech" device in the vision-test machine "determined" that it had changed to brown.

Did this happen because of my line of work or is it normal?

Thermal Punishment

2006-03-18T23:35:00.000-08:00

Maybe I was inspired by Raju's post in the opposite way. Maybe I am just plain crazy. I am not even sure if I would be the same tommorrow morning, after what I subjected myself today.

1. The maximum outside temperature today was 8 C (46 F).
2. My body is still acclimatising to this terrain and weather.
3. I had joined a gym a week ago (similar to the one in FL, but had 3 important additions to it - an indoor swimming pool, hot tub and a sauna)
4. Needless to say, I pick today for starting swimming et al.
5. So I reach the gym (all bundled up, while locals were walking in Tees) and proceed for my pre-swimming shower. First mistake. I turned the shower knob the wrong way and got a stinging reply!
6. The swimming pool was at a comfortable temperature: 22 C (72 F). After about 30 minutes, I climbed out, and walked towards the locker room, but if I had done that, that would not make a post now, would it?
7. So, Hot tub next: 30 C (85 F). I was there for around 15 minutes and said to myself that I had enough fun for the day. But, mind is a monkey, you see! How could I possibly not complete the third item?
8. Sauna room - When I entered it, I could not see properly due to the steam in the room. At first it was pretty refreshing. The temperature was a little bit warmer than the hot tub (35 C), and it felt good since my body was in the "cooling down" stage during my walk from the tub to the sauna room!
9. And then comes this guy who must have felt really cold in the swimming pool, and turned the sauna heat to full blast 44 C (110 F) !. I did not realize that he had turned it on, since my eyes were closed (no point in opening them!), but I certainly felt it hit me! It was unbelievable! There was NO way one could take a breath of air in such conditions. It was like sitting in a furnace. This guy cooly stretched and laid down on the platform, and there I was, getting cooked properly.
10. Two thoughts came to my mind - to get the hell out, or to see how long I could take it. No prizes for guessing which one I did. So, I stayed on until the 110 F cycle completed and it came to 100 F.
11. This time, I was really done. I hit the showers (no mistakes this time) and dressed up to leave. But I had forgotten about the outside temperature!
12. One step outside, and the shock came back again - I was seeing my breath in front of me as if I was smoking a gigantic cigar!. I ran to my car, started it and turned the heater on and came back home!

A pretty sinusoidal day came to an end!

Here we go again

2006-03-13T22:36:00.000-08:00

After the initial moving blues and hectic few days at work, I had some time this weekend and ventured out. Although the weather was bright and sunny, it was still cold for me. But as soon as I reached the place where I wanted to go, I could see why this place is so sought for. It sure is an outdoor paradise and I think I would enjoy my stay here. Some pictures which I took -

This was at a local park near my place and it has a few trails which goes around and through a hill. Pretty good for trekking
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That's a new one. A tree camouflaging with leaves!
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Something which you don't see in Florida - so much green...!
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but... green paint on leaves? This is pushing the limits
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And then there was water...
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Spoiled brat! Enna paakura? beach avalothaan.. po po!
--..--..--

I saw a lot of people scuba diving.hmm... some day...
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This is new too. Roads which are not flat!
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That's all folks!

Avamaanam

2006-03-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

My affairs with the weather continues. It did not rain the first week I landed here, but 3 days ago, it started to rain. And it still is. What's more, it snowed too!. I never knew that my car's odometer had a display called "ICY" until today.

Seattlites would be wondering how on earth could it snow in winter, but look no further. It's all because of me. After all, it was me who was blamed for bringing back hurricanes to Florida, torrential rains and cyclones to India, so what's one more to that list!?

Sniff

2006-03-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

1. Sniff - Sudden change in the weather due to a dramatic geographical relocation brings about a runny nose (sniff!).
--..--..--
2. Sniff - Emotional response to the pressures of moving and missing a lot of things which I was used to. (sniff!, boo hoo!).
--..--..--
3. Sniff - Absence of a proper conduit for expression of thought over the Internet leads to sniffing nearby wireless networks for short bursts of blogging activities. (sniffing!).
--..--..--

Bye FL

2006-02-27T19:45:00.000-08:00

Probably my last post from Florida. It has been a whirlwind 2 years already and I am going to miss the wonderful sunny weather, the beaches and several good friends I made.

It will probably be a few more days until I blog again, so until then, Bye and Bye FL!

Now, where is that Ferrari?

2006-02-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

Although I feel that Ferraris are over-rated, literally and figuratively, there is something in it which makes me to stop on my tracks. So, if I see a sign like "Festival of Ferraris", I can hardly ignore it.

This event took place last sunday in a park on the way to the beach. Affluent locals who can afford these mean machines flaunted them all day. That is, until the rains started. Some of the photos which I took -

Two of the older models on display.
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Sigh!. But will I even fit in it?
--..--..--Check out the owner's name. I am impressed!
--..--..--

The prancing horse. That's all that matters!
--..--..--

What is that?
--..--..--

650 Horses?? Not exactly your walmart car ride!. And check out the price!
--..--..--

Hopefully the owners scrambled home in time before the big bully moved in. Rain in Florida in Winter means Snow in the North East.
--..--..--

I guess I better get used to this kind of rain

--..--..--