தொடர்களின் மத்தியில்,
அலை நனைத்த மணல் போல மனம்
சரிந்த வேளையில்.
June 24, 2019
சுனாமி
தொடர்களின் மத்தியில்,
அலை நனைத்த மணல் போல மனம்
சரிந்த வேளையில்.
October 27, 2018
The King Kong story
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Ever since Albert Einstein uttered this, a vast majority of dumbheads have been using it to escape from the burden of knowledge.
Here is a story unrelated to the above quote.
The lazy photographer in me has always wanted to venture into the wild to capture the wildlife in its blissful glory. Every time when there is an urge to capture moments and show the world that they don't see very often, I pick my camera and rush to the.......Zoo! That is where you don't have to wait patiently for hours for the right action and capture it skillfully because the moments don't freeze for you. For those who are skill wise handicapped and impatient, a Zoo has its rightful place.
Animals in captivity make me sad though. I comfort myself that at least the kids get an opportunity to watch those animals outside the TV.
On a recent visit to a zoo with family, I went around looking for interesting actions in vain. After cage hopping for hours, we ended up with the last couple of cages of monkeys. With the frustration of having captured no real pics to satiate the inner urge, I stood watching the monkeys.
One of those monkeys was as frustrated and bored as I was. She was just sitting motionless and gazing hopelessly.
And then she let out a wild yawn, bored of boredom. That was the wildest thing seen the whole day and I captured that too.
Ever since Albert Einstein uttered this, a vast majority of dumbheads have been using it to escape from the burden of knowledge.
Here is a story unrelated to the above quote.
The lazy photographer in me has always wanted to venture into the wild to capture the wildlife in its blissful glory. Every time when there is an urge to capture moments and show the world that they don't see very often, I pick my camera and rush to the.......Zoo! That is where you don't have to wait patiently for hours for the right action and capture it skillfully because the moments don't freeze for you. For those who are skill wise handicapped and impatient, a Zoo has its rightful place.
Animals in captivity make me sad though. I comfort myself that at least the kids get an opportunity to watch those animals outside the TV.
On a recent visit to a zoo with family, I went around looking for interesting actions in vain. After cage hopping for hours, we ended up with the last couple of cages of monkeys. With the frustration of having captured no real pics to satiate the inner urge, I stood watching the monkeys.
One of those monkeys was as frustrated and bored as I was. She was just sitting motionless and gazing hopelessly.
It looked like she was posing just for me. I continued taking more pics going around knowing well that most of it will be redundant and end up in the trash.
And then she let out a wild yawn, bored of boredom. That was the wildest thing seen the whole day and I captured that too.
She went back to her Buddha pose and we moved on to the exit.
While at the editing table, sifting through the pile of stale pictures, I thought of giving a little twist to the yawn by cropping and obscuring the context to make it look more like a war roar to reclaim the planet of apes.
With this little tweak, our furry friend turned into a fiery beast with frightening fangs. Now that was good enough for social media.
Titled 'King Kong', this was the most deceiving picture I have ever posted on Facebook besides my heavily edited selfies ;-)
October 30, 2012
Acting and Dialogue Subtlety
After watching the teasers of Neethane En Ponvasantham (Tamil and Telugu) sometime back, I have had a few questions at the back of my mind regarding the acting choices and dialogue delivery.
Consider the clips below, it is a good case study to me because so many things are common. The actors (at least the males) are quite decently skilled too, but the performances are so different for the same scenario.
Why shouldn't it be so? It is not necessary to make the same acting choices after all. But if we ask the other question, there is more to ponder.
'Why so?'...here are some of my questions to ponder further.....
Is it...
1. because of the acting choices of the particular actor ?
2. because of the director's choice ?
2. because of the language and target audience ?
Before I try to find the answers, let me say what is different in the performances in my opinion.
In the Tamil clip, I thought the acting choices were good and subtle. When the heroine speaks of the hero's singing and after a deep breath, says '"Anga naan kaali!", the expression is cute and original. The choice of words are beautiful and simple. The better part is when the hero responds saying "Ilayaraja " - Just one....ONE WORD! perfectly works for me! We know exactly what he is trying to say. With the camera tight to the face, with no big facial/bodily movements, the acting is so subtle and it sinks so well in to us. We could feel them getting very close to each other without being physical.Well done!
Now in the Telugu clip, with the same heroine, the acting seems a bit cliched. I miss the deep breath and expression is flat and not so cute. The 'resting-on-the-shoulder' does not work at all. I am not sure if its the actors choice here. Again, with the hero's response, the big hand movement and the facial expression seems to have all the stamps of a 'telugu hero' that we are used to- cliched to the core. Again I doubt if it is entirely the actor's choice.
Looking at both clips, I think its the director's calculated choice of acting. The framing of the shots has also been tweaked to accommodate broader movements in the Telugu clip. I suspect the choices were driven by the target audience. I would like to know if it does really work for a Telugu person. But, if what I suspect is correct, Gautham has made a mistake in tailoring scenes to the audience rather than giving what comes right out of his gut irrespective of the language. The director will be lost if such tweaks had to be done.
August 30, 2012
Thekkady Munnar Trip
 |
| Thekkady Munnar Trip |
A little trip to Kerala to attend a friend's marriage turned into a photo tour. Accompanied by another photography enthusiast, it was a great learning experience and a very memorable one.
December 13, 2011
Short Film - Complaint Kandasamy
This was my first attempt at making a short film, back in 2008, for a
competition at my work place. The topic given was 'Accountability'.
Without getting too much into the nitty gritty of professional accountability, my take was that we could learn a lot from our Moms in this regard. The idea was to keep it superficial and light hearted.
It was shot and edited hastily. It would have not been possible without the support of all those who have worked on this. Many thanks to the team ( Gauthaman, Jayakumar, Bala, Meena kumari).
October 29, 2011
December 21, 2009
வில்பர் கில்மாஸ் !
இப்படியும் ஒரு மனிதரா ?
Please check his blog !!!!!
Wilbur Sargunaraj பற்றி மேலும் தெரிந்து கொள்ள....
http://www.wilbur.asia/
அறிமுகம் செய்து வைத்த நண்பருக்கு நன்றி ! சிரிச்சி சிரிச்சி வயிறு புண்ணாயிடுச்சு !
Please check his blog !!!!!
Wilbur Sargunaraj பற்றி மேலும் தெரிந்து கொள்ள....
http://www.wilbur.asia/
அறிமுகம் செய்து வைத்த நண்பருக்கு நன்றி ! சிரிச்சி சிரிச்சி வயிறு புண்ணாயிடுச்சு !
October 29, 2009
June 02, 2009
Care for your head
Quoted from a friend's mail
-----------------------------------
"from: http://arivagam.blogspot.com/2006/11/wear-helmet.html
[ Ganesh was Parvathi's son (not shiva's). Oneday, Shiva cut ganesh's head with his trident, in an angry fight. Regretting his act, shiva ordered his followers to bring somebody's head to fix it over ganesh's torso.
"tharudhalaihalaa!! edhaavadhu oru thalai kondu vaangada. en pondaatti thalaiyai pidithu aattuhiral."
His wise(!!) followers brought an elephant's head. Ganesh survived after that skillful head transplantation by Dr. Shiva. MBBS, FRCS(Kailasam) ]
-Gokul"
May 02, 2009
The Human Zoozoos !
Zoozoos- Sounds like the south African Zulu tribe. Well, its a kinda tribe also originated in South Africa, but not for real. The Vodafone ad that has been hitting screens this IPL season features these little ‘creatures’ that look like white dolls with an egg-head. They are interestingly named as zoozoos.
Initially, it was quite puzzling to sort out if the zoozoos were animated digital dolls. I was really curious to find it out and ended up learning that they were actually humans performing impeccably as zoozoos.
There is a different movie for every service advertised, beautifully conceived and executed. Hats off to the ad agency O&M for pulling out a classic!
Edit:
Watch this making of video
April 08, 2009
LED art !
Amazing video.....too good to be real! I guess some of the stuffs are CG work. May be I am blinded by the brilliance !!
September 13, 2008
Michael Phelps at a very young age
A Brilliant mail 'Forward' !
Hats off to whoever created this image!
and Hats off to Michael Phelps too for letting our imagination go crazy!
Hats off to whoever created this image!
and Hats off to Michael Phelps too for letting our imagination go crazy!
July 06, 2008
Indian Animation – Is it good?
No, this is not about the visual quality of animation or the technicalities behind it. This is a layman’s take on this sunrise industry. Bollywood has set its eye on animation! So far we have seen a bunch of mythological movies making waves in animation. Now that there is a movie planned on every god (goddesses forbidden) ever created by man, it’s time to move on to other shores. There is news on every big production house wanting to make an animation movie and many film makers wanting to fancy their hands at it.
In the land where animation in strictly for kids, some of the upcoming movies are scripted for adult audience. The Indian audience over the years has been treated with bollywood masala (adeptly adopted by other ‘woods’ too), but animation begs to be different from the usual treatment or at least that is what we expect. Now we wonder, what to expect and not to expect from Indian animation movies. What the creators will do and what they can’t?!
A few naïve things I could come up with-
What can change….
· No more problems of call-sheets from big actors who charge a bomb to act in a movie. Animation heroes don’t charge you a fee! J
· No worries of seeing the same faces of actors again and again and again. Movies don’t necessarily feature same characters, unless it’s a sequel.
· Hollywood looks up to top actors for lending their voice skill to the animated characters. In India, if we need a particular voice, the mimicry artistes can do a better job than the actors themselves.
· Forget the model turned actresses with pathetic acting skills. Animators can give better acting to animated characters.
· No ‘item’ songs and rain songs (!) in animation movies. Who wants to see a bosom popping animated character anyway?! (Don’t prove me wrong folks ;-) )
· Movies can do away with rape scenes.
· Hopefully no ‘rasigar manram’ (fan club) menace for the lead character of animation movies. Even if some come up, it might not put up cut outs and perform poojas to please their heart throb.
· Politicians can breathe easy, as the successful character in animation movies won’t get into politics!!
What won’t change!
· Animation movies would still deal with more love subjects. Robots love each others. Dog falls in love. Triangular love between a fox, crow and owl!
· Hero and heroine sing love songs running around green trees in the middle of Sahara desert with snow falling over them.
· Police will always come at the end of the movie based on a tip off, to arrest the antagonist. And they say ‘Hands up’!
· The hero is strong enough to hit a hundred bad guys at the same time.
· Heroes cannot be killed by machine guns. They always manage to escape by a whisker. Even if shot, they’ll manage to stay alive till the climax.
Animation in India is going to be a potpourri of old and new trends. Have to wait and watch if it comes good.
In the land where animation in strictly for kids, some of the upcoming movies are scripted for adult audience. The Indian audience over the years has been treated with bollywood masala (adeptly adopted by other ‘woods’ too), but animation begs to be different from the usual treatment or at least that is what we expect. Now we wonder, what to expect and not to expect from Indian animation movies. What the creators will do and what they can’t?!
A few naïve things I could come up with-
What can change….
· No more problems of call-sheets from big actors who charge a bomb to act in a movie. Animation heroes don’t charge you a fee! J
· No worries of seeing the same faces of actors again and again and again. Movies don’t necessarily feature same characters, unless it’s a sequel.
· Hollywood looks up to top actors for lending their voice skill to the animated characters. In India, if we need a particular voice, the mimicry artistes can do a better job than the actors themselves.
· Forget the model turned actresses with pathetic acting skills. Animators can give better acting to animated characters.
· No ‘item’ songs and rain songs (!) in animation movies. Who wants to see a bosom popping animated character anyway?! (Don’t prove me wrong folks ;-) )
· Movies can do away with rape scenes.
· Hopefully no ‘rasigar manram’ (fan club) menace for the lead character of animation movies. Even if some come up, it might not put up cut outs and perform poojas to please their heart throb.
· Politicians can breathe easy, as the successful character in animation movies won’t get into politics!!
What won’t change!
· Animation movies would still deal with more love subjects. Robots love each others. Dog falls in love. Triangular love between a fox, crow and owl!
· Hero and heroine sing love songs running around green trees in the middle of Sahara desert with snow falling over them.
· Police will always come at the end of the movie based on a tip off, to arrest the antagonist. And they say ‘Hands up’!
· The hero is strong enough to hit a hundred bad guys at the same time.
· Heroes cannot be killed by machine guns. They always manage to escape by a whisker. Even if shot, they’ll manage to stay alive till the climax.
Animation in India is going to be a potpourri of old and new trends. Have to wait and watch if it comes good.
May 24, 2008
Vada Pav : How to name it ?!
Of all the controversies and chaos surrounding the nation at this point in time, there is something brewing hard in the Maharashtrian politics. It might not sound like an actual issues but it is one and may well decide the future of the state. No, am not exaggerating. Recent days has seen a bout of debates among political parties. The crux of the matter is- How to name Vada pav, the Maharashtrian way ! Amusing isn’t it!
The Shiv Sena, in the process of collecting the region’s trust, has gone some way and proposed to have an association of Vada Pav vendors. It also feels the compelling need to change the generic name to something ‘native’. Initial discussions have lead to several innovative ideas and one among them is to name it after Chathrapathy Shivaji. Now, how does SHIV PAV sound?! Cool isn’t it!
The Shiv Sena, in the process of collecting the region’s trust, has gone some way and proposed to have an association of Vada Pav vendors. It also feels the compelling need to change the generic name to something ‘native’. Initial discussions have lead to several innovative ideas and one among them is to name it after Chathrapathy Shivaji. Now, how does SHIV PAV sound?! Cool isn’t it!
Some more interesting names proposed are, Pune Pav, Mumbai Pav, Uddhav Pav, Raj Pav, Maha pav, Bal Pav, Marati pav, Hindustan Pav. Even McDonalds in India have applied for patenting their new products- McPav, Pavizza and Pav Wow!
Why Vada Pav the target now and what is it btw? For those who have little idea about it, it is a snack quite famous in Maharashtra that people can’t live without. It usually consists of a Vada made of mashed potato sandwiched in a loaf of bread/bun: as simple as that. It is believed that Vada Pav was invented in Maharashtras in around 300 BC.
Why Vada Pav the target now and what is it btw? For those who have little idea about it, it is a snack quite famous in Maharashtra that people can’t live without. It usually consists of a Vada made of mashed potato sandwiched in a loaf of bread/bun: as simple as that. It is believed that Vada Pav was invented in Maharashtras in around 300 BC.
Who would have thought that even a snack can be politicized?! Jai Hind!
April 19, 2008
First Day First Show
I have been thinking of watching an animation movie first day first show of its release. I was able to do that for the first time yesterday, thanks to my second shift at work. The movie was Dr.Suess’ Horton Hears a Who. Funny name but a not so funny movie to say the least. The kids liked it though. The movie is about an elephant named Horton, who tries to save a tiny world that lives on a speck of a flower. The movie starts with the elephant taking a bath in a river and hears sounds of help from the speck flying past him. But in a short while, the camera zooms into the speck to show the ever-happy tiny city of Whoville and the people there living happily without knowing that their world is flying off from a safe place. That gives rise to the first question….if no one knows what is happening to their world, who shouted for help ?! Well, its just a movie for kids and there is no place for logic I guess.
When I booked tickets online, the screen showed that only 15 seats were available. Morning show on a working day, that too for an animated movie, only 15 seats left?! People have suddenly become so fond of animation movies?! Something fishy! And I sniffed right. Actually, only 15 people turned up for the movie. The theatre (INOX) owners were probably making some stunts to create demand. Considering that the movie is about an elephant and Bal Ganesh being a famous Hindu deity around here in Pune, I was expecting a lot more to make it to the movie. Anything remotely based on mythology has to do well in India, isn’t it! Alas, I was disappointed!
February 22, 2008
January 14, 2008
Teeterboard and Parkour - Crazy skills!!!
The two most interesting things I came across last week happened to be quite ‘sporty’. Both are very exciting and fun filled to watch.
First is the Teeterboard acrobatics performed on a plank of wood setup like a seesaw. I found a video which WOWed me when I was searching for an animation reference. These acts performed in a Russian circus runs to nine and a half minutes and it’s definitely worth a watch.
Next one is called Parkour (French) or the art of displacement. I have seen in some movies and thought only Jackie Chan and Tony Jaa can do such crazy things. I was awe struck to know that these mind blowing acts are performed by many just for fun!
Parkour India
Parkour tutorials
December 16, 2007
65 in Chicken 65 ?!
Just thought of giving Chummaakaachi a spicy start!
This topic is quite an interesting one! I thought people might be knowing this already, but after inquiring with a few folks at work, came to know that this is a raging question amongst non-vegs but none knew the actual reason behind the name. What started as a benign discussion at work would have ended up with people ripping others’ skin apart, had I not intervened and stopped the homicide. So, to help the human race live in harmony, I have come up with the theory (and practice) behind this mystery.
To ascertain the fact, I googled to see various reasons sited by (not so) reliable sources around the world; again no one was sure. So, it has now become my moral duty to let the world be informed about this for free (knowledge needs to be free you know!). After all, next to the invention of zero, the Indians are very proud of inventing this tasty dish!
Enough of testing your patience at the very first post itself, here is the reason- Chicken 65 is made from chicken that is approximately 65 days old. It is said that that is the time when the meat is soft and slender and perfectly suited for the dish. Now, spread the news!
Other reasons people are made to believe:
• for every kilo of chicken - 65 chilies were used !
• ‘invented’ in 1965 (like AK47 was designed in 1947) !
• Dish has 65 pieces of chicken (What a blatant lie!) !
• The spices soak for 65 days.---what?!
If you are interested in making it yourself, here are some recipes
-Recipe 1
-Recipe 2
This topic is quite an interesting one! I thought people might be knowing this already, but after inquiring with a few folks at work, came to know that this is a raging question amongst non-vegs but none knew the actual reason behind the name. What started as a benign discussion at work would have ended up with people ripping others’ skin apart, had I not intervened and stopped the homicide. So, to help the human race live in harmony, I have come up with the theory (and practice) behind this mystery.
To ascertain the fact, I googled to see various reasons sited by (not so) reliable sources around the world; again no one was sure. So, it has now become my moral duty to let the world be informed about this for free (knowledge needs to be free you know!). After all, next to the invention of zero, the Indians are very proud of inventing this tasty dish!
Enough of testing your patience at the very first post itself, here is the reason- Chicken 65 is made from chicken that is approximately 65 days old. It is said that that is the time when the meat is soft and slender and perfectly suited for the dish. Now, spread the news!
Other reasons people are made to believe:
• for every kilo of chicken - 65 chilies were used !
• ‘invented’ in 1965 (like AK47 was designed in 1947) !
• Dish has 65 pieces of chicken (What a blatant lie!) !
• The spices soak for 65 days.---what?!
If you are interested in making it yourself, here are some recipes
-Recipe 1
-Recipe 2
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