Eating Spree [Includes Vettaikaran review(s)]

Since my last post I've been having so much fun that I forgot to blog. Not that blogging isn't fun, actually, its a lot of fun, you know...sitting before computer, looking at the monitor, pressing all those keys, clicking the mouse and resisting the temptation to see some skin. On second thoughts, blogging is gruesome.

***

I had about two weeks of holidays when my semester ended and I spent one week watching all those movies I missed, 4 days in a factory where they make wheels and the rest of the week in the bed as I was suffering from fever I won't be able to attend the class on. Sorry, old habits die hard.

And so I was saying, my fever ruined my 3 days of fun during which I could have done a lot of things (You can ask why I didn't do all those things I wanted to do in the first week but please don't. I don't have an answer.).

So for Christmas I made a list in my mind to do the things that I missed during those three days. They are:

1. Eat at McDonald's
2. Eat at KFC
3. Eat Hyderabad Biriyani

Though it may seem lame to you (you were probably expecting climb the Everest, resolve the Copenhagen issue, assassinate Vijay...actually the last one isn't such a bad idea is it?), eating something tasty is very improtant to me. Meals at the above places are something people should experience.

Eating at McDonald's is an American tradition. Where else can you can feed your whole family for 5 dollars in the US of A?(not that we are in the US of A but I'm just stating a fact. In India, a meal for one costs Rs. 121 only) Where else do kids get a toy with their meal? Where else can you take a photo of you with a statue of a ridiculous man wearing yellow overalls, red striped sleeves and white face?

KFC is the second best thing from in Louiseville, Kentucky, the first being cervical cancer vaccine. I'm sure your mom can cook chicken, but is it crispy? In KFC, it is. To my knowledge no other restaurant gives a bucket to carry your chicken.

Enough of America, lets talk about India. I know that there's a lot of stuff going on in Hyderabad like hunger strikes. But fortunately, Hyderabad isn't the only place where they make Hyderabad Biriyani. Its available in Chennai too. Since I have never eaten Hyderabad Biriyani (In fact, I have never eaten Hyderabad-anything), its third on my list. Hopefully I'll eat it before it becomes Telengana Biriyani.

I struck off item one on the list - McDonald's. I had a mexican chicken roll, some fries and some Coke. It wasn't my Coke actually, I spilled mine and got stares from the sweeper (probably because I'm irresistible) and my friend gave me some of his Coke.

There are still two more items on the list. 5 more holidays. Wish me good luck. And a good appetite.

***

After reading my Kanthasamy review on my blog, an avid reader asked me to review Vettaikaran. My heart was in no condition for it though. However I did get a sneak peek into Vijay's intro scene. It goes like this: A man is running. I know its Vijay. I hear sirens. Then I see a police jeep racing up. I think the jeep is chasing Vijay. But lo! Its not the jeep that is chasing Vijay but its Vijay that's chasing the jeep! Somehow, the policeman in the jeep manages to lose Vijay using his horse-powered engine. Would Vijay give up? No! He finds a horse, takes a short cut, and catches upto the policeman with his horse's power, jumps directly to the backseat, some dialogues, then jumps directly to the front seat and drags him to a hospital. Then I learn that Vijay is teaching a lesson to the drunk policeman who ran over an old man. Cut to a song sequence, in the beginning of which Vijay breaks a pillar stone with his bare hands.

Since when did Vijay start doing superhero roles?

Since I couldn't get the genre right for this movie, I can't review it. But I did find some praise for the movie in some popular review sites:

www.tamilnow.com: "...But, it's slightly average than his previous flicks - 'Kuruvi' and 'Villu'. Possibly, you would be curious to know whether Vijay has imitated anything from Telugu actor Mahesh Babu. Of course, he has aped certain style of uttering dialogues as the same way he does. Indeed, there's a particular shot of breaking a pillar stone just in bare hands (Mahesh Babu in 'Athadu')."

entertainment.oneindia.in: "another B grade flick from Vijay's factory of Mass Masala!...Hard times continues for Vijay.. better luck in Sura!"

I did find one positive review from www.merinews.com which said "If you don't get a chance to go to the theatres, do download the movie Vettaikaran."

Too bad for Vijay, even he wouldn't have thought competition would come from a movie like Avatar.

Ciao

Need Is The Father Of Invention

Its as if some ad-film maker has read my blog. Remember my post about insurance ads? Well, I was watching TV that day and I saw an ad which reflected almost exactly how I felt about these ads. YouTube Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4az0SydydJE

****

Another glorious first day in college, this being the first day of the sixth semester. Highlight of this semester is that we have one elective subject, which means we get to choose one subject from a list, which is not a very long one. We had two choices, one was Numerical Methods. Since it had the word 'Numerical' in it, I automatically chose the other option, which was Unconventional Machining Processes.

Though the title sounds a little sophisticated, the text book is only around 100 pages and that's something rare for an engineering student. The first unit was already covered in the first week, which means 20% of the subject was covered in 5 days. That's record time in college standards.

And the lecturer isn't a bad guy...if you can ignore his English. It was easy to determine his level when he said, "Need is the father of invention". For those who can't figure out what's wrong with what he said, the saying goes like "necessity is the mother of invention".

Everyone except my Heat and Mass Transfer professor claimed that their subject was very easy. If you'd paid attention while watching Vaaranam Aayiram, you might remember that even Surya had an arrear in Heat and Mass Transfer.

We didn't do much in most of the periods. Taking notes is strictly for problematic subjects and optional for the other subjects. Lectures for theory subjects were spent reading Chetan Bhagat novels (2 States is awesome) and partaking in recreational activities like Hangman and Bingo.

This semester also includes a Design and Fabrication Project for which we can spend 4 hours every week roaming around labs pretending that we're doing something important. There's also a Communications Skills Lab which includes watching movies like Battle Of Britain and The Pursuit Of Happyness. But the best time I spent in that lab was when I was told to pick a story at random from a list and read it. I got The Gift Of The Magi by O. Henry. It's one of my favourites because its about two people in love and to what extent they go to make each other happy (I'm not talking about boning). This story is a must read for hopeless romantics like me and for +2 students because its in their syllabus. Link to the story: http://www.manythings.org/voa/stories/The_Gift_of_the_Magi_-_By_O_Henry.html It also has audio.

On the overall, I think this was the best week of college so far, not because I did something cool, but I was happy without doing anything cool.

****

Observant people might have noticed a new link in the sidebar called Date A Gadget. It's a new gadget review site which is maintained by one of my friends from high school who shares my fascination for Prince Of Persia, Gadgets and hot women. Since there is not much to blog about the Prince and since there are already too many blogs about hot women, he reviews gadgets. And he's not one of those fakers who take reviews from other website but he gets the actual gadgets and breaks down specs for mortals like us to understand. Check it out, the link is on the sidebar.

****

This brings us to the announcement of the winner of the first contest ever held on The Open Book: one invite to Google Wave for the best comment! Now before I announce the winner, I would like to make one thing clear to you - my decision is final. And you can't question it. Actually you can, but I decide whether to answer it or not.

The criteria on which chose the best comment is...I'm not sure. The winner of last week is Mano, who was the only person of all the people who commented to have watched one movie that was on the list. Congratulations Mano...check your email in-box for your invite.

I've got plenty more invites and Google has charged me with the mission of inviting more people to Wave. I've got no contest this week but next week I'll have one and I'm planning to give away 5 invites. So leave a good contest idea in the comments and you might just get an invite.

Ciao.

Apparently it turns out that I had mistaken the Mano who comments with another Mano I know. So he got the invite while the winner Mano didn't. That problem is being sorted out.

Top 5 Movies You Shouldn't Miss This Semester...uh...I Mean This Season

Back in the day dial-up modems were cool, when people were bored, they'd just log in to Yahoo Messenger, go into their favourite chatrooms and chat with some random guy. Now when you go into a chatroom, all you see is guys posing as girls who want to take your **** and **** you so badly your **** is sore for 2 weeks. There is so much evil in this world. Chatrooms are prehistoric. Tweets and scraps are the cool stuff.

All I wanted to know was how to fabricate a PCB...and they wouldn't tell me! Instead they want to take my **** and **** me so badly my **** is sore for 2 weeks. Well, **** them!!!

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After so much talk about movies, it should be obvious to you that I am a movie junkie. Before the exam started, I was supposed to prepare, which involves me in my room with a book in my lap thinking about how sexy Megan Fox would look in Jennifer's Body. During this same period, I also collected DVDs of movies that I shouldn't watch till the exams are over, like little squirrels collecting nuts for the winter season. Now I'm spending so much time deciding which ones to watch now because All the movies I got are equally good. But I separated the cream of the crop for you, my dear eggs.

So the top 5 movies you shouldn't miss this semester...uh...I mean this season are

5. State Of Play starring Ben Affleck, Russel Crowe, Rachel McAdams.

State Of Play is the sort of movie that gives you a feeling of reading a good novel. This one gave me the feeling of reading a Grisham novel, Pelican Brief to be exact. Ben Affleck plays a US Senator whose secretary is killed in a freak accident. Russel Crowe and Rachel McAdams are two investigative reporters who uncover the truth behind her death as Russel struggles to be both truthful to his own profession and loyal to his longtime friend Affleck.

Reasons to watch:

• Rachel McAdams is insanely hot.
• A damn good ending.
• Lots of twists keep you watching.

4. Orphan starring some actors whose names I don't remember or bother to look up in the IMDB.

There's a not so happy family with a not so happy mother recovering from alcoholism and depression caused by their stillborn daughter. The mother decides to adopt an orphan to get over the sadness. They adopt a Russian born girl Esther. Everything seems to be fine in the beginning but soon people are getting killed and the mother struggles to find out the truth about Esther.

Reasons to watch:

• Omen styled horror movie that you just love to watch.
• Deviation from the conventional thrillers. Director makes intentional build ups and lets them fuzz out and you realise that its pretty cool.
• Seems ridiculous in the beginning, makes a lot of sense in the end when the secrets are revealed.

3. Zombieland starring Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone and a new guy whose name I don't know.

This movie is a makes fun of all zombie movies like Dawn Of The Dead, Resident Evil etc. The whole world is infected by a virus turning people into zombies. A college student unaffected by the virus, returns home to find out if his parents survived the epidemic. On his way he meets Woody and they team up with the other two girls and help each other survive and make us laugh in the process.

Reasons to watch:

• A funny zombie movie in a long time since Shaun Of The Dead.
• Good solid acting.

2. District 9 starring nobodies. All of them South African actors who speak in a funny accent. Fock!

Debutante director Neil Blomkamp was supposed to direct the Halo movie. But since that project was on a halt, he decided to make a movie about an aliens coming to earth. Its a completely different treatment of the alien concept. Its easy to forget that this is Neil's first movie.
An alien space ship lands in Johannesburg, South Africa. It turns out that the aliens are refugees, seeking shelter in earth. A whole district in Johannesburg is turned into a refugee camp. The district turns into a slum and humans don't cope up with the aliens very well and the government decides to move them to a new place with the help of a private weapons manufacturer. The leader of the team which is in charge of the operation is exposed to the alien technology and is forced to help the aliens save themselves in return of their help to save his life.

Reasons to watch:

• Aliens don't land in Washington DC but instead in Johannesburg.
• Really professional, serious movie making from the director.

1. Inglourious Basterds starring Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger

Its World War 2 and a group of Jewish soldiers called Basterds led by Brad Pitt are in Germany whose sole purpose is to spread fear among the Nazi forces by brutally executing them. During their mission they come across cinema hall whose audiences are mostly Nazis. Basterds are immediately interested in the cinema hall. The owner has her own reasons for having a Nazi cinema premiere. And it all boils down to one evening that will change the course of history.

Reasons to watch:

• Directed by Quentin Tarantino.
• Do you need a better reason?

If you are wondering why 2012 didn't make it to this list, its because its a movie in which a large number of people die and the hero and his family mirculously escape. It has happened before in the movie Day After Tomorrow and its happening again now. Nothing special.

Leave your comments below. Enjoy your holidays.

Ciao

P.S.: Oh I forgot to mention. The best comment wins a Google Wave invite.

Paranoid Insurance Ads

Hello my fellow eggs...it has been a while. I had my semester exams and I had to focus.

I'd love to write about all the things I missed because of these exams but there is an important issue that I have to focus on before that.

Insurance advertisements.

They've become a nuisance when you are watching TV. There was a time when insurance was just life insurance. Now there's health insurance, property insurance and other stuff. And they don't stop there, they've got retirement plans, pension plans, mutual funds etc. But do you know the worst kind? Child plans. The worst thing about them is not the idea of insuring a child, I think its a great idea actually. But the adverts...that's the bad part.

A family is having a happy dinner. Mom and dad are eating with their little kid. The kid suddenly asks "Have you thought about it?". Dad asks, "About what?". The kid says, "My future". The dad looks like he's constipated. Then some guy says that they can secure their child's future by their child plans.

WTF? I know the easiest way to secure an 8 year old's future - by making sure he finishes tomorrow's home work. What else has a kid got to worry about? Global warming? Are we to think that a school kid will worry about his career because of job cuts due to economical meltdown?

By the way, the best insurance ads are from ICICI. They always feature happy couples.

***

Most of you will be wondering what happened to my "Eggman Goes To Thanjavur - Part 2", I promised you. I really did try to write part 2 but I couldn't write more than 2 lines. I just ended up browsing something else on the net. So I thought I would drop part 2. There was a valuable lesson I learned from that. I could never write a book. I probably won't make it to chapter 2.

For those of you still wanting to find out what happened when we got to Thanjavur : We did the presentation but it didn't stand a chance against the path finding robot PSG Tech guys did - they even brought a working model. I spent the rest of the day at Thanjavur Big Temple (crude translation of Periya Kovil) with a friend. I did manage to get past prelims in quiz but I didn't want to spend the night for a crappy quiz. I left for Chennai that night.

***
There's a thing about remade movies that I hate. Remakes are the easy way to success. Some directors can utilize that very well. But others just make a scene-by-scene copy of whatever the original version was. The difference will be the language spoken. We used to do something simpler in the past. Its called dubbing.

Some are remakes are really good. There was a recent Unnai Pol Oruvan (A Wednesday in Hindi). Billa was ok. I mean, it was stylish, but there was just too much build up and you get sick of watching Ajith walk in slow motion and talking in a monotone in the first half. SRK looked as slick as the Big B himself in the Don remake.

There was a Vasoolraja MBBS (Munnabhai MBBS in Hindi). It had the same storyline. But the locales are different, the plot rewritten to suit Tamil audiences. You might have noticed that remakes with Kamal Haasan end up successful. Auvai Shanmugi was no exception (Mrs. Doubtfire in English).

So if you're wondering what I'm  building up to, its Kanden Kaathalai. The only reason I wanted to watch the movie was because Tamannah Bhatia was in it (Fact : She's only 19 years old. She was paid 50 lakhs to work in her last movie. I'm also 19 years old. You know where I'm getting at.). The director made it no secret that it was a remake of Jab We Met. Since I was already impressed with that movie, I wanted to see how the director had improvised. The only improvisation I saw in that movie was the inclusion of a comical relief Santhanam. Most of the dialogues are literal translations of the hindi dialogues and it didn't suit the characters.

If Tamil directors should ever think of making good remakes in the future, I advice them to watch Ocean's 11 (Yes, Ocean's 11 is a remake). And not to watch Ocean's 12 because it sort of sucked.

Ciao

P.S I'm in holidays and I hope to make frequent posts of short length rather than long ones once a week. But I sure could use a little motivation. Leave a f***ing comment!

Eggman goes to Thanjavur!!! -Part 1

Hello my friends from the blogosphere! It' been quite a while since my last post. You probably won't believe me if I tell you that I was busy preparing for my model exams. So I'm just gonna say I was busy with some stuff. Oh I'm still suffering from sleep deprivation ever since I'd visited Thanjavur. Yes I've crossed the Chennai border which I haven't done in a long time. The last time I went out of city was like a year ago when my mom took me to a shitty temple in somewhere in on the way to Andhra. I never bothered to remember its name. And the last time I went out of city on my own was like...never. So why would a person like me who travels so little went to Thanjavur?

I know a bloke who knows a bloke. Now this bloke used all his leisure time to work on a paper while I was playing Prototype. This paper was surprisingly good, so good that he won a few paper presentation competitions, and made quite some money, close to five grand. Now you all know how my last attempt to make money worked out like. Yes, I'm referring to the interview incident. Compared to that, this method seemed very lucrative to me. I have to work on a paper which doesn't necessarily have to be my work. All I had to do was to convince the judges that it was really my paper. Like showing them some real references, make a circuit board or a model and there you go! An original paper by a 3rd year BE student.

And so started my quest for a suitable topic. Experienced people in this business said that a paper has more chance of getting selected if it is about a relatively unknown topic. So while I was googling for new technologies, MEMS caught my eye. MEMS stands for Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. It was perfect. Well, the name sounds sophisticated. That was good enough for me.

After 42 man hours of research and typing, my paper was ready: Adaptive Cruise Control system using RF MEMS (RF stands for radio frequency). I got it evaluated by a couple of my professors. Both of them said the same thing - I was going to have a hard time convincing the judges that it was my own work. They told me to make a circuit board or a working model. That wasn't going to happen because commercially available Adaptive Cruise Control system costs nearly $1000. Not rupees, but dollars. To make the modifications that my paper proposed will cost more. And it isn't available in India. So add some overseas courier charges and you have double the cost original cost of the setup. That's low cost technology for you. And me.

So with the working model out of the question, the paper was a goner. Now I wasn't going to throw away 42 hours of work just like that. So I sent it to this symposium they were conducting at SASTRA University called Sakshama.

7 days after sending the paper, I'd given up on the paper as no intimation was sent to me. But it turned out that they did send me one. Its just that GMail decided to play games with me. I didn't receive it but my team mate Chimbao got it. But he never bothered to check his emails because intimation will be sent to both the team mates all the time so if i didn't get it, so did he. One day before the deadline for confirmation, Chimbao went to play Mafia Wars in Facebook and decided to check his emails while he waited for the game to load. And there it was...like Meg Ryan in my bedroom...the intimation (I used the Meg Ryan metaphor to imply that it was the last thing we expected to see).

For those of you who didn't know, SASTRA University is located in the outskirts of Thanjavur, about 40 minutes from the proper town. All the while I worked on my lucrative money making scheme i never considered travel. 228 people were on the waiting list for the train to Thanjavur. Thankfully we got super deluxe bus tickets to Thanjavur.

And that was how I was in the bus to Thanjavur on 9th October 2009. And then what happened? Did I get to Thanjavur? Did my new money making attempt work? Did I finally get Meg Ryan on my bed? Log on to www.placeformwords.blogspot.com in 3 or 4 days or probably a week to find out.

Ciao

Life Is.

Do you know that one of the best father-son moments happen in my life during the weekends when my father wants me to clean up the car?

"Hey son, c'mon lets clean up the car, we haven't cleaned it for a long time..."

"...er..."

"Open up the garage and take the car out. I'll be right behind you."

10 mins later:

"I see that you started cleaning up the car...good. You take the left side and I'll take the right. Just let me make this call and I'll be right with you."

30 mins later:

"Oh you cleaned up the car...great. You could've waited up for me. Now put the car back in the garage and lock up."

5 mins later:

"Ok, you're done. Now stop wasting time and go prepare for your tests."

"But dad, my tests ended last week!"

"Well then, prepare for the next one."

"But dad...."

"No buts. Now go."

Perfect sunday.

***

There was this really funny application in facebook. It will ask people a series of question and after answering them, it will tell you which important event of your life will be interrupted by Kanye West!

It all started during MTV awards. Taylor Swift got the award for best music video and she went up the stage for her acceptance speech and there he was, Kanye West, jumping out of nowhere. He grabbed the mic from a seemingly stunned Taylor and started talking about how Beyonce's entry for the award was way better than Taylor's and that it was Beyonce who rightfully deserves to be awarded. The incident ended with Kanye being escorted out of the award show.

So according to this crazy facebook app, what event of my life was going to be interrupted by Kanye? My marriage! "Beyonce's marriage with Jay-Z was waaaaaaaaaaay better than yours man!" But I feel sorry for one of my friends who's first time doing "you-know-what" with his girlfriend will be interrupted by Kanye!

***

Life is _______________.

Ever tried to fill up that blank? One of the most bizarrely spent time in someone's life, according to me, is thinking about the purpose of life. I use the word bizarre because you can't define whether it is useful or useless to think about the purpose of life. Because, when you figure it out, you wouldn't know if you got it right. Even if you did get it right, you might not be brave enough to change yourself to your purpose. Don't tell me, "I know what the purpose of my life is! I'm a dentist and my purpose is to rid the world the evil of plaque!". Say that out loud and it will sound stupid even to you. You probably ended up becoming a dentist because your cut off wasn't enough to get you a medical seat. You're probably a Hindu because your parents are. You prefer wearing briefs because your mom didn't buy you boxers when you were little. So many things we do, without thinking why we are doing it. And the beauty is, every moment you think about these things, in some strange way, you are also wasting time.

So as I was walking in the rain on my way home from college, I thought to myself, why bother? Its just going to be one life time for me (unless the creationists are right), so why bother? Just take a moment to appreciate life. Ever looked up the sky when it was raining and saw a rain drop falling down? I think its exhilarating. One part of you wants you to close your eyes because it will fall right on your eyes. The other part of you doesn't care of it falls on your eyes, it just wants you to see that spectacle.

So don't try to fill up that blank. It'll come to you. Until then, Life is.

"I love the rain. It helps me think."

-Violent Marv in Sin City Comics

Ciao

Kandasamy Review + An Eventful Saturday COMBO!!!

Yes, I have watched this season's most expected film, Kandasamy, and boy...what a movie it was. But before I get on with the review, I thought it would be interesting to tell you how I ended up watching the movie that I was so sure I would watch it only on its TV premiere.

So here's the thing, its the first weekend after the end of my ever existing cycle test and I finally got a breather. So I decided to spend it with some friends. Let me explain my plan to you in a nutshell. Its more like an algorithm so I am putting it down in points. This is what was supposed to happen before that plan was sabotaged by God (whose existence is disputed by men like me):

Before sabotage:

• Get on a bus and go to Ambattur.
• Go to my friend Y's place and give him some softwares he needed.
• Go to Hyderabad Biriyani Centre and gain 4 more pounds of fat.
• Go to another friend Don's place and give him some games.
• Show him how to play games.
• Explore other ways to waste time. Improvise.
• Get back home.

But this is what happened.

After sabotage:

• I got into a bus and was on my way to Ambattur. But Y sends me a message that there was a power cut and there wasn't going to be any power till 5.
• I use some of my quick thinking abilities and decide I'll go to the Don's place.
• But he's not available. For some strange reason, the Don, who is incapable of speaking even Tamil without a Hindi accent, has gone to German language tuition.
• So I head back home...to find it locked.
• It seems one of my uncles got a heart attack and my parents went to visit him. How nice of them. The only problem with that was, they locked the house and took the key with them. Its going to be a solid 3 hours before they get back home. How not so nice.
• So I employed my quick thinking powers again and come to a conclusion that it was best to go somewhere where I would be engaged for such a duration. A movie theatre seemed like a very good decision at that time.

And that's how I ended up watching Kandasamy. Now, for the review...:

Superhero Kandasamy - Review

Ever gone to a place and wondered why in the hell did you go there? That was exactly how I felt halfway through the movie.

Kandasamy was expected to be one of the big players in the movie releases this season. No other movie had so much hype. It was also the first movie to release a teaser trailer even before official shooting. Naturally people had high expectations. Everything was perfectly set for the director Susi Ganesan - an all-star cast of Vikram, Shriya, Prabhu & Vadivelu. So when you start wondering whatever could have gone wrong with the movie, the answer comes after half an hour of watching the movie - everything.

Vikram stars as a brilliant, young, charismatic blah blah CBI officer named Kandasamy. He clashes with big industrialists who stock up black money and ruin poor people's lives. Simultaneously, a mysterious character dressed up as a cock (a male chicken; no pun intended), named Kandsasamy helps people with their miseries, like sending money to the poor, beating up dishonest police officer etc. And you don't need to be a genius to figure out that they are both the same guy.

Ashish Vidhyarthi plays PPP, a run-off-the-mill ruthless businessman who is incapable of human emotions whose financial secrets are brought into the open by Kandasamy, the CBI officer. To delay arrest, PPP acts as a paralysed fellow even before his own daughter, Shreya. Shreya decides to take revenge for her father and uses her womanly ways. In the mix is an another IT mogul who likes to have mini bachelor parties in his travelling bedroom. They all get crossed by superhero Kandasamy and they all decide to hit hard on the man behind the mask.

I found the movie very tiring. It seemed as if a mix of Sivaji The Boss, Anniyan, Gentleman and other such movies is what Kandasamy is. The ridiculous costumes don't help the cause. Characters in the movie are all standard stereotypes. And the only thing that keeps you watching is Shreya's neckline which keeps dropping throughout the movie. Prabhu embarasses himself in Vadivelu's interrogation scene and Vadivelu has lost his talent to crack jokes.

To sum it all up, Kandasamy is the sort of movie which makes you wonder whatever the hell you are doing in the cinema theatre.

1 star out of 5

Ciao

P.S.: I wrote this two weeks ago but I couldn't publish it because of some problems with my pc.

God Might Exist, But You're Wrong

Recently I read an article in New York Times about the on going battle between atheists and theists:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/opinion/23wright.html?pagewanted=4&_r=1&ref=opinion

It is actually a very interesting article on how both atheists and theists could be wrong. You see the products of evolution, i.e. us, was a result of thousands of years of a selection process called Natural Selection, more popularly known as Survival of The Fittest. It makes sure that the fittest organisms in terms of physical and mental ability are allowed to live. And so, the most successful organisms in the world are...

If you said human beings, nice try. But the answer is insects.

But human beings are the most advanced product of evolution, we being capable of doing fantastic feats such as watching HBO for 6 hours straight, using the word "simply" in all the wrong places ("What are you doing here man?" - "Just standing simply"), or enduring a Vijay movie. But the point this article makes is that how did we gain characteristics like honesty, sincerity etc., when survival of the fittest supports characteristics which are directly or indirectly selfish. Th article argues that this gap in the explanation of human nature could be the hand of a being above us, preferrably God (but I hope its the Flying Spaghetti Monster).

There is a flipside to this argument which is also mentioned in the article. This God is most definitely not the God that is in any of the holy books. That makes both theists and the atheists wrong.

What makes me wonder is, even after thousands of years of evolution, how did we ever manage to fool ourselves into believing religion? Wouldn't you laugh your guts out when you hear of God's own fantastic feats? ("Hey Bob, you remember that guy we stripped, mocked, flogged and crucified 3 days ago? Well you ain't gonna believe this, but he's alive."). Lord Krishna probably had Google Earth inside his mouth because when somebody saw his mouth open, they saw "the world" inside. Why does the Pope alone have a direct hotline connection to God?

God may have made sense to some people, but religion doesn't.

***

Got this from the Net:

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.1. Life is not fair - get used to it!

2. The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something
BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

3. You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

6. If you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

9. Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

10. Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.


Ciao

Independence Day

Wow, today's a holiday because...its a Saturday. Added to the fact that its also the 62nd Independence Day, the day in which all the blood, sweat and tears of the revolutionary leaders who swore to end the injustice brought upon our country by the British came to fruition - it was on this day that India had broken free from the chains of colonialism and became a democratic republic. And it just so happens that its on a Saturday.

Is it too much to ask for a holiday on a weekday?

Well then, Independence Day is not just another holiday, its the day you are reminded that the indelible ink which is on the nail of my left forefinger is a result of a bitter struggle to be given the freedom of choosing a ruler of our choice. But even if we wanted to be reminded of such a thought, we have so little ways. How many TV channels broadcast shows that are patriotic? Its Kuselan on Kalaignar TV as I am typing this now. No one knows how many good patriotic movies came out in Tamil since the time of Sivaji. At least the Bollywood has Rang De Basanti to brag about. What do we have? Vijay Kanth?

Movies aren't the only way to express our patriotism, but what about books? Even in school, Indian history is given in detail up to the point of our freedom struggle but after that? Not much on the Indian role in formation of Bangladesh. Very little about the Indo-China war and the Kargil war. How many of us know that our national anthem was made official only on 1950 eventhough our country became independent in 1947?

Its sickening when you think about all of this, how easily we forget these things, things which had a huge impact on us even when we weren't a part if them...about how much it meant to those who took part in the struggle and how it has become a casual holiday.

I know that I sound preachy but when I think about all this, this is all I can be.

***

Many thanks to the Chairman of my wonderful college who didn't listen to the government's announcement of holidays on Thursday and Friday. You've been a real pain in the ass.

Ciao

Thriller

Yeah...that last post was a little too long and a little too senti. But that was great typing practice.

In the last couple of weeks I was a out of action due to a dead phone line. But nothing great happened in the last 2 weeks. Events in the last two weeks ranged from very exciting to completely boring. The exciting part was I saw the Transformers 2 movie, and it was awesome. Probably they paid the graphics people more money than the actors, because the robots are so real. The woman who reviews movies on Pix TV channel (Chicks on Flicks), said that Transformers 2 makes Terminator : Salvation look lame. I say, the amount of CGI (Computer Generated Images) used in the movie makes Ice Age look lame. But overall, I would even go so far as to say Transformers 2 is the science fiction movie of the year. It has the best graphics since Michael Jackson's Thriller video.

Talking about Michael Jackson, it seems that I'm probably the only blogger who didn't write something about MJ after his death. So hereby I dedicate this post to Michael Jackson, The King of Paedophilia...er...um...sorry, I meant to say King of Pop.

I used to believe that MJ looked so white because of a pigmentation surgery. So does, probably, the rest of the world. But Wikipedia says he got vitiligo. So do I have to get vitiligo to if I want to become fair-skinned?

If your asking why I want to get fair-skinned, don't ask. Because you know the answer - almost all the women, starting from Shreya in Sivaji to the street vendor woman like fair looking men (don't ask how I know what the street vendor likes...I just wanted to exaggerate...really). So I was thinking about how I was going to get fair (getting vitiligo is not even an option you degenerate, vitiligo is a disease).

While I'm torn between using Fair and Handsome("Hi handsome, hi handsome!"), Garnier and Nivea, I also wanted to know your opinion. Do women really like fair-skinned men or could Karuppiah get a girlfriend without a face bleach? Does looks really matter?(of course it does, but how much?). Post you answers as comments.

***

Recently I found out that many of my readers from facebook don't know that I own a blog and that I'm typing it all out in facebook. For them, news flash : I do own a blog and what your seeing in facebook in just the RSS feed from my blog. If you don't know what an RSS feed is, its technology. If you don't know what a blog is, then you're probably from the stone age.

So here are some simple instructions for the no brainer on how to open my blog and post comments:

1. Open a browser window/tab and type http://www.placeformywords.blogspot.com/

2. You'll find the nice and not so nice stuff written by me. Read and get educated. If you don't know how to read, finish you school education and come back (on second thoughts, you should be applauded for getting this far).
3. On the right side of the page, you'll find the sidebar. It will contain the blogs I like, quotation of the day, National Geographic's Picture of the Day(where one day, even your pic might be there, keep your fingers crossed), stuff about me, Blog Archive where previous posts can be seen, subscription panel and the followers.

4. I'll be really grateful, if you become my follower. Just click on join the link and provide your relevant email id.

5. If you don't understand any of the steps above, sell your computer. Your better off with and abacus or counting with your fingers.

Hope you like what I wrote and become a follower. You can even suggest what you want me to write about. And don't forget to answer the questions that I asked you earlier.

Ciao

P.S.: Don't get pissed off with the stuff I wrote about MJ. It's just for fun.

Life's Worth

WARNING!

Those who are not the sentimental type or not even the pseudo-sentimental type, just close this window/tab and wait for the next post. If you are convinced that you are capable of human emotions, then you may continue reading.

My last post had great response from readers in my college and they wanted more of it. Honestly I was surprised that people even like my writing because I've started focusing on humour so much that the whole post looks like the script for Russell Peters Show. And to be even more honest I got sick of writing about my goddamn (blasphemy!) college. But I wanted to write one more post about it to wrap it up, until 3 days ago.

3 days ago, a friend called. She's got a beautiful telephone voice but since she had got cold, I mistook her for a prank caller. After she convinced me that she was really her, we had some small talk. Small talk got into something more serious and set me on a trail of thoughts. But they were so random and incoherent and mostly full of anger, self-contempt and sadness that I promised to call her back later and tried to figure out what I was really thinking. And I promised myself that I will make a post on my blog about this. I started retracing on what actually gave me those thoughts.

We were talking about our plans after college. She was going to do a post graduate course. Good for her. What was I going to do? Hmmm. I am also going to do a PG, perhaps an MBA. Wait, I'm so sick of studying, so maybe I'll work. But then again, I thought, who was I to decide?

Huh?

Well, I'm Eggman, the master of the eggs. Who buys the eggs? My dad. Who cooks them? My mom. So what the hell do I do? I eat. Is that the only thing my mom and dad are involved in? No. Well, what else are they Involved in? Well, there are some things...actually a lot of things.

Practically everything.

Right from the shoes I buy, the clothes I wear, the money I spend, etc., if my mom or dad's better judgement is not involved then I'm not Involved. And readers, atleast those of my age will agree with me on this point. But have you ever asked yourself why this is so? Because you already know the answer to that question. Because that’s the way it is. It’s like gravity. You know that when the apple fell down, gravity was responsible for that, but you don't know why it was responsible.

Let me take you on a ride through my memory lane as I tell you my side of the story as to why my thoughts on what I was going to do after college made me sad with self contempt. I guess I was so happy in my childhood that I don't really remember much about it. The fog in my memory lifts as I can see some of my life in my mind when I was 10 years old. It’s like watching old black and white Polaroid pictures. I know that I was me when I was 10 years old, but I cannot believe that I grew up to be the same guy. I'm much less happier now.

12 years old, memory gets clearer as I can see myself transferred to a new school. When my dad filled out the application form, or when I wrote the entrance examination, I really didn't feel how much that this will change the way I lived. I thought I did the exam badly, but I was the first of the five to get selected. I got to go to school in a car since its 40 minutes from my home.

First day at school. Remember it quite clearly...as if watching a high definition movie. Tailor did a bad job with my uniform, my trousers are embarrassingly short. Teacher asks me a question in English, and I don't understand what she's telling. The most embarrassing day of my life.

13 years old. I got a crush on a girl. Did a lot of things that when I think about it now, I can't help laughing at myself.

14 years old. Everyone's focussed on the public exam except me. People tell me to get serious but I don't. Life becomes harsh on me all in the sudden. I give up on my crush; decide it’s a passing cloud. Should've done it earlier. I am forced to go to school on MTC buses. My father must have thought I was a bad investment and decided to reduce transportation costs. Exam is over and the results come out and I pass with very average marks. Now my father was convinced that I was a bad investment. I meet a few old school friends. They ask my marks. I tell them. They laugh at me. They can't believe I went to a school 40 minutes away from my home to get these marks. I change the topic.

15 years old. I think I might be good enough to make it to the IITs. 3 months into the school year, I'm convinced I'm not even fit for school. I barely pass that year.

16 years old. I already knew what was going to happen at the end of the school year. I get marks so low that I get a counselling date a month after the counselling began. My father gets me a seat in a reputed college which, I find out after a week in it, is worse than a nut house.

17 years old and life is hectic. It was so much for me that I don't remember much about it except the good times I had with my friends. 18th year was a little easy on me. I get my driver's license and passport. Soon I realise that both will not be useful any soon. My dad says the only way I get to go abroad is for my studies. Useless passport. My brother advises my parents that I'm a rash driver and shouldn't own a bike, out of vendetta because I gave him a troubled time (tore his stamp collection when I was 4 years old, poured water on him when he was sleeping, that was when I was 11 years old) when he was back in India (He works in US of A now). Useless license.

19 years old, I have an argument with my mom about my love life, my point being that since I am the one who is going to tie the knot, I get the freedom of choosing the one I want to marry. Her point is that she gets what she wants...which is actually not a point but a suppressed expression of dictatorship.

And at this point of time I had the same feeling that I had 3 days ago and I looked back on my life just like this. If I had stayed in my old school, I might have scored better marks. When I left my old school at the end of 7th grade, I had the top marks for that year. I have a picture of me getting a prize for that. Now you may think that I blame my dad for getting me transferred to another school and eventually leading me into a pothole of failures, but I don't. He had the best intentions in his mind when he got me into that school. But shit happens. People screw up. Especially those who spend more than two hours on commuting to school.

Getting back to the present, I finally figure out, why I recollected all of this. It’s because I wanted to get reminded of how much my life is worth. I thought am not in control of my life but actually I was. Everything in my life happened with my silent approval. If I had told my father that I was fine in my old school, things might have been better. And I honestly I should not have poured water on my brother when he was sleeping, bad move. So to sum it up, I fucked up.

And I feel absolutely great. Now I know that i'm in control. I have a mom, who makes the best lunch for college (and I regret that sometimes because my classmates eat my lunch), a dad who can buy my bare necessities, even if they are branded. I passed math in middle school because my brother tutored me. I have great friends who expect nothing from me except to be myself. And for these reasons I am forever grateful to the above mentioned people.

Now I am happy.

So when you feel sad or depressed or simply "feel like shit", think about all those people that I mentioned above. They have all spent a chunk of their life for you, they have made an investment on you and some don’t expect returns. And to them you owe a lot. And for the same reason, pull yourself together and go on living your life. If bullies in your school beat you up, fight back. Even if you get your nose broken, you will feel great. Can't have fun in college because of too many rules? Break the rules without getting caught, it’s much more fun. Hate working at your workplace? Save up some money, quit your job and get a new one.

So whatever you do in your life, do it because you want to, not because you have to. You can say no when you don't want to do something. If they don't listen to you, say no louder. Say louder until they listen to you.

I fell great after writing this. Thank you for reading this. And thank you for being my dad/mom/brother/friend.

Ciao