The MK Family tree

A good article, for someone interested in TN politics, elaborating on the spread of Karunanidhi's family and its whereabouts.

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Yes. I want change soon and that is why I am very much looking forward to the American Presidential election. Not because I am 'hoping for change' with Obama or hoping that McCain would 'guide America and the rest of the world through this turmoil' but soon the media will stop their obsessive coverage of the campaigns and they will talk about only one person, the President, and forget the other three soon.

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Gavaskar is rather irritating at times with his stupid comments and fanatic denouncement of anything Aussie, but I am sure there are times when we can silently chuckle at his antics as the Australians deserve their own medicine too and he is the only one bold enough to give it back without inhibitions. 

Just the way one would hate Subramaniyam Swamy and still smile in silent approval of his skirmishes.

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Chandrayaan

I guess it is going to be a monumental day for ISRO with the countdown for the launch of PSLV C11 carrying Chandrayaan already begun. This is one live event I am not going to miss for sure. ISRO is all set to broadcast it in its website. Hope all goes well.

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Dont whine.  What happens on the field stays on the field!!

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Self Realization

One interesting about the current market crisis is the realization by the American society of their extravagant spending ways, something which the 'Rest of the World' always grumbled about in the past and points out as a reason for the downfall now.

But what is more interesting is the sudden interest evinced by the media in the paycheck of all CEOs and their property holdings. A report on CNN called these CEOs of Wall Street firms as 'Fat Cats' who drew salaries that are 500 times that of an average American (whereas the ratio was supposed to have been 25:1 a few decades back). Further, the reporter covered a party in Manhattan attended by many Wall Street operators. Wordings used by the reporter as well as the inevitable discussions by a panel included 'amazement', 'furious', splurge', 'flowing drinks' to describe the party which to me did not appear to be any different that has been covered by the American media in the past. But this one makes them furious and hurts them because of the back drop of the crisis.

It is very funny to suddenly see this nation point fingers at top level CEOs for amassing wealth and their self-indulgence, when that defines the very fabric of the American society.

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This town deserves a better class of criminal... and I'm gonna give it to them

I have been to many movies in the theaters but very few of them have had the audience clapping. I have witnessed spontaneous clapping for funny scenes. But at the end of the movie when the audience claps as one it would not be due to a few well shot scenes. Rather it has to be the sign of a movie that so captivated the viewers, that appreciation at the end of it is as much a spontaneous reaction as leaving the theater once the end credits starts rolling. The Dark Knight is one such movie.

Having been a fan of Batman all my life, I hate the earlier movies because of the utter frivolousness it brought to the character. Batman Begins brought about a wave of freshness from its sickening predecessors. Christopher Nolan bravely decided to inject a story to the life of Batman. Batman Begins was not a conventional superhero film in the sense the movie offered the viewers a look into the minds of the character(s) and not just at Batman's lives saving actions. And the movie had such a taut script with no loose ends, I believed that it would be the best Batman movie ever. Any attempts at a sequel by Christopher Nolan, I believed, would be more to recreate the magic once again and the resulting predestined failure of the sequel should be something that can be forgiven.

I missed seeing The Dark Knight on the opening day but I saw rave reviews and I believed them to be due to the initial euphoria. But I got to see the movie today. Wow. It is probably one of the best movies ever. Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker quite stunningly steals the limelight from the protagonist himself. The character is such a masterpiece because of the way it has been shaped. The Joker does not run around pointlessly causing mischief and laughs inanely. Instead, every second he takes up the screen time is an insight into the mind of the character himself that almost leaves us to believe we are actually seeing such a character in real life and not an actor in a movie. Full credits to Heath Ledger and Nolan. When the Joker says, "This town deserves a better class of criminal... and I'm gonna give it to them" it comes out like a statement that also appears to say that its not just the fictional Gotham city but also the history of Batman movies that deserved a better criminal (and a better movie). Some tout this to be a Oscar winning performance for Heath Ledger. I am not sure about that. But he has immortalized the Joker with this performance and given a new dimension to the character. Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent has also been great. The scene where the Joker corrupts the minds of Harvey Dent at the hospital is a classic.

There were some reviewers complaining about the long running time of the movie (2 hours 30minutes). My only complaint is that the movie was too short for me to see enough of the characters. I have seen movies dragging on pointlessly but here was a movie that could have gone on for another hour without the audience noting the difference. If there is another Batman movie coming from the stables of Nolan in the future, the only regret would be that Heath Ledger is not alive to recreate the magic once more. Just like the Joker said to Batman in the movie, "You've changed things... forever. There's no going back"

P.S.: Oh Yes. Chistian Bale is one of my favourites now and I was thrilled when there was a teaser for the Terminator Salvation slated for release on May 2009. Also, I would highly recommend the movie 3:10 to Yuma in which Bale has starred.

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Damn them

Yup. Blame it on them for everything.

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En Iniya Thamizh Makkale (aka) The Dasavathaaram Experience

I have had some bad experiences in seeing movies but I have never had a bad experience and ended up not seeing the movie. But now I have that too. I went with my friends to the Dasavathaaram screening at Cincinnati. From my previous experiences of seeing tamil movies at Columbus, Ohio I knew that the movie screening would be poorly organized: the movie will start at least 20 minutes late every time, the tickets will be overbooked and the organizer, in order to make the most profit, will rent the cheapest theater in town which would have an audio system as good as a 20W Logitech desktop speakers bought at a Thanksgiving sale and a picture quality as vivid as a camera print. And I also knew that we have to be early to get good seats as all fellow movie watchers would be our dear thamizhargal who would rush into the theater once the door opens and pandemonium would ensue.

So we arrived about 30 minutes early for the 6PM show and promptly found ourselves waiting in a queue that did not seem to move at all. And then 6PM came and went and 15 mins past 6 PM we were still standing outside the theater. One guy said 'potti innum varala' (meaning the film reel has not come yet). But another guy said the theater is already full as they have over booked it. I already told my friends that these fools would do that but this was not an ordinary over booking. There were about 40 people still standing outside with tickets for the show (which we bought through Sulekha.com). An American lady was collecting the online receipts and issuing tickets to enter the theater. She said the theater is full and we can sit on the aisles or at the back. Some people who were ahead of me started asking about refund to which she said the organizer is the one who is responsible for that as she is only the theater personnel and organizer is the one who has the money. And of course, that organizer was not to be found anywhere in the vicinity of the theater.

We first got the tickets and went inside the theater to see how its like inside. It was a dollar theater (a theater that screens movies that released months back for a dollar or so) having second rate seats, narrow aisles, dim lighting, speakers hanging from the walls well above the heads of those who got seats at the end of the rows, and a screen that was slightly brighter than a bioscope. I got frustrated and decided to come out as I did not want to stand and watch a movie because of some dumb ass to whom I paid $16. That organizer still had not turned up and nobody knew of his whereabouts. Not even the theater managers. So I went back inside the theater and stood with others at the back. It was about 6.30PM and still they were showing slides about coca-cola's rewards and 'please switch off your cell phones' for the 100th time. My friends said we will just shout and enjoy ourselves for the money paid.
I always enjoy every second of watching movies in theaters: the big screen, the DTS audio system, plush seats etc.,. When I was a kid I always made sure that I was inside Udhayam theater before the curtains rose inside just before the trailers are played. And later on I always went to the theater early enough to see all Prince jewellery and Vicco turmeric ads. So for me seeing movie standing at the back with dozen other people with some sitting near my feet is impossible. Added to that is a pathetic audio system and an equally pathetic screen. And so I went out again to see if this nincompoop of an organizer has turned up. This time he did and there was a small crowd of people around him. We shouted at him to refund the money.

There are some people who are too soft natured to even voice when being trampled upon. There were such people ahead of me who were asking, ' enna saar ipdi aiduchu? padam paakalaam nu wife elaam kootindu vandhen saar'. And then another guy who was closest to the organizer and waving his ticket at him for a refund said told others.' lets form a line so that we can be organized and we can get the refund easily'. Immediately two people said,' aama sar you are correct lets form a line and approach him one by one'. There are some times I lose my patience and shout at anybody and this was one such moment. I belllowed at the first person,' Yov ozhungaa organize panni padam kaamichaanganaa namba yenyaa ipdi gumbalaa vandhu nikanum. enamo organized la line la poi pesalaam nu solra?' Two people put ching-chak for what I said also and said 'yaya what you are saying is also correct'. Then some more people got angry and shouted at the organizer and he accepted to refund the ticket cost and he did that immediately. People who were before me were getting money from him as if they were labourers getting daily wages from company boss and said 'Thank you sir'. This angered me even more. So when my turn came I asked him in a high voice, "What the hell did you over book it for? Did you think you were selling tickets for Greyhound bus so that you can have another bus running if all passengers turn up?". He immediately drew a long face and replied in horrible english,' No saar. This people you know what they did? They bought tickets for 1PM show which was telugu version. Ticket is only $12 for telugu show. They brought that receipt now and got tickets and went in. So half the people inside are now people with tickets for noon show'.
Me: ' What the hell? Wont you check while getting the receipts from them?
Organizer: No saar. I was bringing film roll to theather and got lost and arrived 30 minutes late. By that time the American lady from the theater office admitted all people in without knowing they have come with tickets for noon show. All people want to see Kamal movie but wont want to pay more than 12 for it. What can I do saar? Also I see 12 people who got refund for tickets now going back into the theater for seeing the movie.
Me: (I blew my fuse at this reply) Yov, when people like me are shouting at you for $15 why dont you go and kick outside the people who cheated you for hundreds of dollars?
Organizer: (Just drawing his face longer and giving a dying dog look and not saying anything)
I decided I am not going to allow myself to be pushed over the edge of sanity and came off.

So my dear thamizh makkale. I know we are all cut throats. But now I realize that we are no better even if we are thousands of miles away from Thamizh naadu. We still would be same.
Vaazhga thamizargal, valarga India.

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Being generous in assistance

Is the concept of International aid more of a protocol nowadays than an actual humanitarian act? For example, India has given $5million aid to China as a relief for their earthquake victims. Now broadly speaking, I am sure the $5 million would not be a big issue for the Chinese Government. Had this been given to some African country to which this amount would matter more then it would make sense.

On a note aside, India refused International aid from countries such as US, UK and France when Tsunami hit the Indian sub-continent. At that time, people from those countries went to the extent of declaring India as arrogant for refusing to accept their aid and some stated that India wanted to display its economic self sufficiency to the world more than anything else by that act of refusal.

It would be more useful for the recipient country (the likes of India, China etc.,) to get support like trained rescue teams than to have monetary aid stuffed down their throats.

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