Firefox 3 crashes

While creating the previous post on the iPhone Firefox hung and I had to close it; problem was in 3 tabs where I had the contents pasted but not posted: orkut forum, this blogger and nittians, had to be shut down. I was very apprehensive about the text being retained after coming back from a crash. Thankfully, the text remained on the orkut forum page and the nittians page, and blogger had save a draft before the crash. Thank God.. otherwise all that I had typed would have gone to waste.

Not to mention it crashed again(blame it on Gmail), but after posting to blogger and nittians. Had to copypasta to the orkut forum page.

FF3 has been prone to Vista-Gmail-Google Reader crashes, don't know where the problem lies, a search of forums/blogs reveals it to be a prevalent problem, I hope it is solved soon, before I revert back to FF2(I know I made this threat before also).

iPhone, USA vs India

A few details about iPhone in USA(as of the date of this post):

* compulsory new 2 year post-paid contract with only one company, AT&T

* costs for the lower capacity model, phone = $199 from July 11 for 3G model + monthly charges = $70 excluding taxes, excluding messaging, but unlimited data access i.e. free internet

* unlocking new model almost impossible because you have to buy with credit card, and if you don't activate phone(3G model) within 30 days from date of purchase, penalty will be applied

* current details indicate terminating the contract(by paying high fees) with AT&T will mean that you have to return the phone as well

* as mentioned internet access will be free in the contract..

* there is no option of a prepaid iPhone, unlike in Australia or UK

So for India, I guess they will have a contract system, offering the phone for a low price with postpaid contract or a high price with prepaid.

Since such bundling(phone+plan) is not common in India, it will be interesting to see what plan is proposed. Also complicating the situation is the fact that most people use prepaid plans with an unlocked mobile, i.e. freedom to use mobile with any provider.

News wires have it that Airtel and Vodafone are waiting for 3G directives from the government, hence the delay. Rumours abound for a release in September.

Suppose a person buys an iPhone with a postpaid plan, there will not be much intent for unlocking it. But for a person who buys it for a prepaid option, usually he will not have a credit card, so tracking that iPhone will be difficult, so the only way to make money will be to sell that prepaid iPhone for a very high price.

According to some speculators the actual price of the iPhone, i.e. the money the carrier has to pay to Apple for every piece they(the carriers) sell, is about $525 for the 8GB model.

This amount, about Rs.22,000 , could be the end price which people pay for the iPhone in India ultimately.

Notwithstanding the 'early bird' signup for the iPhone by Airtel and Vodafone, I hope people don't fall head first into a ditch they do not know the depth of.

Wall-E

I was captivated the moment I saw the trailers long back: a tale of a lonely robot cleaning up the earth falls in love with another robot - too good to miss.

----Possible spoilers included------

The outline of the story is this: Earth has become a garbage dump largely due to a monopolistic company which is the new government; they decide to go on a five year space voyage while earth is rejuvenated by robots doing the cleanup; this doesn't go well, the 5 year voyage becomes one of 700 years with humans becoming largely incompetent. Meanwhile this lonely robot goes about his chores and meets a probe(robot) sent to detect regrowth of life. Wall-E falls in love with 'her', who when detects a plant goes into hibernation mode and is taken back to the mother ship to prove life is possible again on earth. Wall-E follows her. And then the rest is about the adventures on board while deciding whether to return to earth or not, entangled with the love story.

Further detail....

Wall-E's is the only robot left on earth after 700 years, along with a single cockroach. He watches a '60s clip on tape via an iPod, imagining how it would be to hold hands with someone else, dancing. He collects interesting things from the dump he is designed to compact, like lighters, bulbs, and so comes across a single plant in a toolbox. The cockroach is his 'pet', feeding it, cajoling it.
He feels very sad at not having a companion like himself.

Then one day this probe lands, ejecting another robot, Eva, supposed to test for life. 'She' is very apprehensive about this guy, avoiding him, misunderstanding him.

But Wall-E is attracted to her at first sight. He want to keep her company, hold her hand, share things with her.... After all, after such a long time of just watching holding of hands on screen, he wants to do it for real.... Only if... She would agree....

But then she is shown the plant which Wall-E had discovered - she automatically stores the plant within herself and hibernates - waiting for the probe to return and pick her up. Wall-E is confused by this sudden shut down and cares for her even then - placing her outside of his small cabin hoping sunlight would do her good or her probe comes back to pick her up - and bring her back to 'life'.

The probe comes back, he hangs on as the probe docks with the mother ship - the one on which the humans are still on a voyage.

Wall-E is still very devoted to Eva. As she is being repaired he mistakes it as she being dismantled, and tries to save her but ends up sabotaging the repair section releasing all the rogue robots.

The plant is a threat to the robots who control the ship because they will be irrelevant if the humans return to earth, so they try to remove the plant whereas Wall-E, Eva and the captain of the ship want to save it. Thence lies some action.

The movie is wonderful because with almost no dialogue and just actions, the sad, desolate life of a robot have been sketched beautifully. Even in the very end, when Wall-E for a moment does not seem to remember his past, you can feel a touch of compassion for the two.. It shows that true, undying relationships are effective if and only if both are aware of how special they are.. Initially it is all Wall-E, later Eva realises that Wall-E truly liked her, taking care of her even when he knew she wouldn't feel it... Happy ending anyway.

The second half of the movie, toward the end is bogged down by trying to include humans, the ending seems to be somehow out of shape in the movie. Humans who've never walked before do so with no effort, the captain's knowledge seems to be amusing.. the first half is so much better and they could've kept it that way.

The cockroach seems indestructible; the other robots have questionable behaviour differences(Mo the cleaner helps in saving the plant, autopilot is not as intelligent as would be wished for... on that note, the robots seem to have been programmed with different levels of intelligence) as the movie progresses. The movie casts the robots as being very very intelligent.

Animation, by Pixar is amazing. It's just too good. The eyes zoom in/out like human eyes, the dust scattering, controlling of zillions of objects to react to a tremor.... Phew...

Should you watch the film? mmmmm... Maybe not.. No hurry to watch it.

The inseparable love of one for another..... Wall-E.

Johnny(1980), a review

Johnny or Johny or Jani is a Tamil film starring Rajnikanth (Rajni or Rajini) in double roles and Sridevi as the female lead. The outline of the movie is the intertwining lives of the two Rajnis, with them turning over a new leaf, not always for the good.

However the wider messages intended are very subtle - and as with movies of the past, there are many stories and sub-plots embedded.

The first Rajni(Johnny), shown stealing a car, swindling a jeweller, duping a sale, is actually looking to repay his father's losses in business caused by the 'other' wife's family, notwithstanding the fact that his mother, i.e. his father's second wife, did not give as much attention to them. Johnny explains this benevolence to his mother's love for her husband, even though his father didn't reciprocate it.

This relationship with his father had a deep mental effect on Johnny, making him behave with indifference to women. Enter Sridevi - with a voice of a nightingale, with Johnny going to her concert with deception in mind, only to be smitten by her performance, captivating him, making him listen to her songs on a recorder. Their relationship slowly goes beyond friendship, atleast for Sridevi. She makes advances, asking him to marry her.

The scenes between Johnny and Sridevi are amongst my favourite of all time, because of their wonderful acting. The beach scene, where she chances upon him listening to her songs. Then they walk along, talking to each other. I believe it is to the director's credit that Rajni and Sridevi delivered their dialogues as though they were in a real life conversation. This is attested by Sridevi tripping yet continuing, hands in pockets, flying hair... This unique style continues in all the scenes featuring Rajni and Sridevi, like when Sridevi discovers its Rajni1's birthday and the outing(when the lilting music plays). The highlight of the film is when Sridevi tells him to marry her.

This scene draws out the dramatic best of the two performers. Johnny, vary of any commitment, tries his best to gauge Sridevi's intentions, while she, assuming his innocence, pushes to make the relationship permanent. Ultimately, the intimate emotions of a woman break him down, not after he deliberates and realises he must come clean on his actions. The slow, one-to-one dialogues adds to the suspense with Sridevi turning from happy and expectant to sad and Johnny from being defensive to grudgingly accepting.

On the other side is the character of Vidyashankar, a stingy, lonely, introverted barber living his own life. Maintaining a house 'in harmony with nature' and a wonderfully 'audited' garden, he seems to enjoy his lacklustre clockwork job at a star hotel. Until, that is, a car crash sets him up with a life-changing opposite. She, Bama, a casual worker, finds her way into his life, after rescuing him from the crash, by appealing emotionally to him. She slowly becomes part of his life, doing his chores, cooking, rearranging his house... The degree of intimacy(Vidyashankar's involvement rather) is such that he buys her clothes, in the belief that she would be his partner.. forever.

This is another example shown, of the effect of women on men, how men are at the recieving end(hey, it happens in the film, don't frown at me!). Vidyashankar's relationship is soon on the rocks, when he realises that the woman who he thought would be with him ditched him for a guy with a seemingly higher status in society. She says, having their children recollect their father to be a barber would be such an embarassment, she wouldn't like to live with it. Vidyashankar is deeply disturbed at this rebuttal, all he has are words of advice, very true ones too. He advises that it was a barber who paid for her clothes, and even reminds her that she too 'was' a labourer. These hold good for us too, because we have to remember that we cannot deny who we are, we have to accept who we are, never speak ill of others.

And so when Vidyashankar sees his love going away with the other guy, his once solitary life, made solitary again, although with so much pain, he kills Bama and the other guy.

The rest of the movie follows the path of the two men, with Vidyashankar being mistaken for Johnny by Sridevi, and the former, courtesy the treatment he recieves, comes to change his recent opinions that all women cannot be trusted. Seeing Sridevi's true love, he decides to give himself up for the sake of Johnny, taking up all his sins.

Two different interactions with women, with stark results. One woman attracted by character, another by the lure of big money. A cheat is ready to surrender for love, another surrenders to love and takes things into his own hands.

The experience of the movie is exemplified by the music, not only the songs, but also the bg score, by the maestro Ilayaraja. Nattu noted that after watching 7/G he was left wondering where he had heard that film's theme somewhere, then noting that it was in this film which kindled his memories. Of course, Nattu is so passionate about Rajni. There are especially two pieces of music which linger in your ears, both also are played in the climax, which a good samaritan has uploaded to YouTube(along with the Johnny-Sridevi drama scene mentioned above). Who can forget the infamous scintillating dance routine in Aasaiya Kathule... Ooooh...

The comedy relief is nice, and I must say, though there aren't too many supporting actors, they do a great role - supplementing the storyline with a convincing presence. I specially refer to Sridevi's helper, Johnny's sidekick and the rich Gulti guy.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie because it was a throwback to the days when Rajni actually did drama roles before he did his present day flambouyant characters. Johnny is the original Rajni in play, Vidyashankar is a cautious role, expecting order and always critical of his surroundings. Sridevi did awesome, such a perfect portrayal.

Thinking of it, making a movie like this will be difficult today, least of all because such a down-to-earth script will not be accepted by anyone, also because finding the right cast will be very very tough. I am pretty sure remaking this movie today will not be possible simply because finding actors who can deliver a powerful performance despite being modest, is easier said than done.

A rare classic from Rajni.

Gaffes.. a few here and there. Ooty and Madras are a couple of kilometres away, the recorder disappears from Rajni's pocket after the beach scene, the moustache on Vidyashankar seems to be a paintjob, Rajni briefly enters the frame after his scene when he is selling the house to the Gulti. I loved the dog on Vidyashankar's bed, it sits there motionless, which is a great feat since that dog didn't seem to be a trained dog. It was so cute.

Top posts on Nittians

s

First reactions: Firefox 3

So I downloaded Firefox 3 after Mozilla servers were up recovering from their embarrassing crash, contributed towards a world record, and installed it half-heartedly, not knowing what to expect.

First off were the icons, I didn't like the big back button, I customised it to 'small icons' to make it small.

Gmail opens considerably faster, sites with heavy scripts also load easily.

Memory consumption is also down a bit.

The Inspector and colour codes to the level of security on a site is a great idea, which will take time to get used to, but the lock at the end of the address bar for secure connections could've been retained.

Initially I thought the ability of selecting two words by clicking just in front of the second word was disabled, but on reading this blog I found that it has been slightly modified: you have to double click in front of the second word and then drag towards the first, making it possible to select text in a reversed order. The original option could've been retained as it was. Triple clicking inside a paragraph selects the entire paragraph, as opposed to that line alon in FF2.

As you will also read on the mentioned blog, you can select multiple blocks of text in Firefox 3.

I miss the 'Go' button, which I would use after editing the address. I'm waiting for a tweak for it, notwithstanding that fact that it appears when you are typing a fresh address.
I miss my Mouse Gestures addon a lot, since I would close a tab just by moving the mouse to the right keeping my right click depressed, so I hope the makers update their wonderful extension.

In Firefox 3 all the tabs look very similar; identifying which one you are on is slightly difficult than before, it is the one in bold. I wonder why they changed this one.

I don't use the awesome bar as much becuase I use the mouse to locate the bookmarks rather than type in the address(since I use a laptop and external mouse), I might deactivate it.

There are not many themes to choose from; someone has got to make a theme resembling the FF2 look(atleast for my sake).

One useful feature is that on deleting a bookmark from the drop-down list, either from the menu bar or the bookmark toolbar, the entier list does not disappear, so you can delete another if you still want to.

I've gone through a series of crashes already, including one while writing this post, some within 4 minutes of each other, which maybe due to the incompatible plugins and extensions. On that note, the crash-reporter is very much improved with a better interface.


The Firefox and Mozilla homepages have undergone a 'hippy' transformation, to make it look more friendly to the increased audience. The previous style had a 'strong' and classic feel to it, just like the default look of Firefox 2.

I have the 2.0.0.14 setup..... dilly-dallying whether to revert back.

The aftermath of the Dasavatharam review

I must say that I wrote this review of Dasavatharam just after coming back from the movie, so I put spilt all my pent up emotions.

Now, after a few comments and a couple of other reviews, I will say this: Kamal has tried real hard to make a completely different film, with subtle sub-plots woven together by a much debated theory; but, in this quest, he was sadly let down by makeup, graphics and over-ambitious dialogues. Not to mention American accents, which will least convince my friends and I given our geographical location.

In my review I questioned the reasoning for the initial 12th century scenes, only to learn later that the sinking of the idol was to play a role in the tsunami(notwithstanding the fact that the earthquake took place far far away, a correlation to the butterfly effect). Even then, the tempo and tone set in the initial scenes were lost as the film progressed.

Next are the scenes and events that each character causes in helping the main Kamal to escape and keep the vial from getting into evil hands. These I would say are more of chance, which we come across in every other movie, rather than any theory specifically.

How could the film have been better? I can bring forth Michael Madan Kamarajan, which involved 4 mirrored roles, a rip-roaring comedy track and excellent direction, given the task of simultaneously showcasing 4 images in the days before computer graphics. Kamal himself has done, and is undoubtedly the mainstay of the film.

Comparing Dasa and this film, I feel pained to think not how Kamal has screwed the film, but how grand Dasa could have been. Had all the chips fallen into place, including a tighter screenplay, the film would have been much, much better.

This film will play out well to the common man; not so much to the others who can call out the flaws.

Given the talent Kamal has shown, in his fabulous adaptability, I only demand this of him: another Dasavatharam with a better crew, with probably the planning of a la Shankar.

Dasavatharam review and the trip

First the review and then about the trip. A few surprises in the trip section!

---Possible spoilers below----

Q. Why did Kamal make Dasavatharam?
A. Go ask him.

Q. What does Kamal try to convey through this film?
A. I presume you're on your way to Kamal's house; you might as well ask this also.

With my friends Rj, Nr and Sr giving scathing feedback, don't expect anything positive here.

Dasavatharam is about Kamal's ten roles which are tied together by a script which tries to inculcate religion, fate and some science. In the former(roles) the film succeeds; the latter is unflattering.

Full credit to Kamal for his portrayal in all the roles; Though his voice rendition may not be good, his acting surpassed standards such that you could dismiss them for a separate actor. The screenplay definitely slows down because of dialogue delivery; the action scenes were impressive and different.

I must mention one awesome piece of improvisation: in the scene when Poovaragavan is drowning, there is no water involved in the shooting - it is air being blown on him, which gives the effect of flowing water. Of course, all his makeup would have been undone if that scene had been really filmed underwater.

My junior Bk warned me that some of his friends had hated Asin; how true he was.

Consider someone dragging their nails across a blackboard; her antics and mannerisms proved as irritating, ultimately. Screech, screech, screech was all she said throughout the film save the final frames. I don't blame Asin; it's whoever described that role to her.

Ultimately I want to know what I am supposed to comprehend and instill in my thoughts from this movie? I could think of only this: Kamal is justifying the tsunami. By claiming that this act might have thwarted an even larger catastrophe, he says losing a few thousand lives is bearable when compared to the millions that could have been lost.

Why does he say this? The movie is peppered with his philosophy - that of an atheist and that he accepts God for the sake of others - which brings to my mind the temple scene from Sigappu Rojakkal(there is a YouTube clip of it).

Speaking of temple, the opening scenes from the 12th century were promising, we thought the movie would have a link to this period and lead to it ultimately... but it didn't. I wonder which river would be just ankle deep, in the middle, and that too a short distance from the sea. They wanted to move the idol from the temple to the ocean; probably dragging it over land would be difficult; so they decided to carry it over a river; but the king also has follow, on his elephant. What to do? Make the river so shallow an elephant can walk but a boat carrying a huge idol won't touch the bottom... Then bring it over to the beach, rather than carry it along with the current to mid-sea, so that there can be a final condemning of the guilty, and carry it on two boats which have amazing control over the waves that they can balance the huge idol between themselves. So cool.....

Don't get me started on the graphics. Not only were they bad in the opening, they were equally awful in the end during the tsunami. I can't come to terms as to why they couldn't make better graphics(the scenes involving multiple Kamals were well done, though).

The next major flaw is the makeup. Applying masks takes a lot of time, but, if you ask me, it wasn't worth it. When we saw the makeup Kamal had for the CIA agent(Fletcher) and Bush, we were very disappointed and would have permanently held our hands to our forehead if it hadn't been for the Naidu avatar. That was the only fitting role-makeup which was passable. Bush was not too convincing; his dialogues tried to reflect the original Bush's much potrayed image of a simpleton.

Segways inside a lab? Are you kidding me? Even if in some corner of the world they are using it, I say it is unnecessary. Maybe in the hallways, yes, but inside a lab, which has so much equipment... no way! Probably they wanted to show the use of Segways(which are wonderful things, by the way) somewhere, and ended up showing them inside this laboratory.

The trick Kamal uses to make sure that he isn't the last guy in the lab while stealing the last vial of virus was well done.

I smiled at the notion of killing off unwanted characters - be it Kamal's colleagues, his friend Ram, Mallika Sherawat or Fletcher's driver. Atleast you don't have to get confused by additional characters.

A tamil song in a posh Vegas hotel.. I definitely wouldn't go there. Looks like a Mr.Q was borrowed from the Bond saga as was Fletcher's appearance from the Terminator. In the scene towards the end where Bush is travelling in a motorcade and waving to people, we were scratching our heads, wondering if we were supposed to believe it was India, because it definitely looked like some foreign country.

Let's see if we can explain the inclusion of the characters in the movie:

Japanese pro: to make an excuse for someone who knew martial arts and who could recognise a tsunami and provide adequate cover when hit happened.

Singing Singh: I don't know. Maybe to include a Sikh and make an excuse for making Himesh the music director

Kalif Ullah: Again, not needed apart from the religious standpoint. Agreed, but, there are several gaffes in the movie: because of his height, he had to be included via computer graphics; this meant the actors in the movie had to imagine him while acting out the primary scenes, making them look up, but this makes so many people look somewhere up but not at Kalif. In simple words the actors didn't end up looking at Kalif but elsewhere. An effort to make a different voice ended up screwing up the already screwed character.

Poovaragavan: Another religious inclusion but didn't make sense. My friends were saying this was a sort of appeasement towards a politician. His role of an activist-cum leader just didn't add up.

Grandmother: Someone short. A wonderfully done role, save the makeup; why she cries in the end over Poovaragavan and why she remains in the jeep when it is in the police station without getting down, is not explained.

By far the best Kamal apart from the original and the 12th century was Naidu. A brilliant reflection of a Gulti-bureaucrat; this provides the comedy relief in the movie, notwithstanding the 'mokkai'(banal talk) between him and Kalif. Another of the mokkai scenes was Kamal vs Kalif vs Asin; my friends would put all Kamal and Asin exchanges in this bracket. Even the slow, comic Naidu couldn't sustain the onscreen charisma he generated initially and became just as tiring as the others.

Now for the politics. Why include JJ, Karunanidhi and Dr. Manmohan in the movie? Maybe including K implied the inclusion of JJ to balance the scales and Dr. Manmohan for a national feel. What's with the stadium in the opening and the ending? A full stadium... for a Kamal speech which made no effort in clearing the doubts we had, a few Tamil words Bush spoke which seriously noone understood. Maybe they all came to see KS Ravikumar dance. On that note P Vasu has done his role well.

With so many politicians, I pray Kamal doesn't have any ideas about entering politics. On the religious side, the idol containing the vial is so badly mistreated in the movie(thrown around, being lassoed by Fletcher,) Nr is predicting numerous legal challenges; I realised it only when he said it, and it could come true given there was a case even before the movie was released.

Reviews across the board have been cautious - The Hindu was a positive one - considering it was out the next day, it may have been purposely made so. Rediff - proved that you have to believe just the opposite of whatever is written there.

Overall, playing ten roles is no mean feat; unfortunately Kamal was let down by makeup, a nagging dialogue, irritating Asin, third grade graphics and unwanted characters.

I would like to quote Nr here: he said, 'Yes, Kamal tied all the loose ends, but there was no need for so many of them.'

Rj was saying that if home was anywhere close by, he would've walked out of the theatre half way through the film.

Sr and the others were so eagerly waiting for the film to get over.. such was the 'torture' of sitting through it, not knowing what bitter dialogues and jokes laid ahead.

Somehow, that excitement we had after Billa was missing. Full marks to the actor Kamal. Nothing for the others.

------------------------------

The Trip

Long before we decided to go to Cleveland for the movie, and save a last moment mix-up for my ticket, we started off in two cars, discussing about gasoline prices, public transport in between guiding the other car via mobile. First stop was a Shiva-Vishnu temple on the outskirts of the city. After seeking blessings we waited outside, chatting, shooting each other with the cameras, for Sv who arrived with a friend. Meanwhile it was discovered that Sr had forgotten his proof of purchase of tickets, and got them with a little help from Nr and the temple personnel. All the while we debated where to head for a meal and after much deliberation headed to Chipotle.

My first experience there, it was good. We headed right away to the theatre, one and half hours before time, only to be told that the theatre would not be unoccupied anytime soon. And so off we went to the nearby mall, going around the food courts. Bh and Sn ordered ice creams which they couldn't finish, giving Nr the opportunity he was waiting for: free ice cream. Then they disappeared, apparently gone shopping. A good 15 minutes after our planned time of departure we left, only for us to find the theatre brimming with people - we cursed ourselves for not leaving early.

It was then that we noticed two Kollywood personalities: Kasturi(younger Kamal's sister and the older Kamal's daughter in Indian) and Abirami(female lead in Virumandi)! Apparently Abirami is studying Psychology in Wooster, Ohio, and Kasutri was managing the movie release here. I was wondering whether or not to approach them for a snap, but did. Abirami was standing outside, caught in the web of an apparently ardent fan. I wished her and asked her if she could stand for a picture, she obliged, only to be called aside by an elderly lady who asked her about a rumour, which turned out to be an old one(something to do with Gautham Menon?). She also mentioned enjoying the anonymity. Talking her way out of that conversation using my photo-op as an excuse, I took a snap with her; the other 'ardent' fan also took the opportunity and wished me to take his photo and send it to him. I told her I loved her role in Virumandi; she played it down, I said Kamal is always himself, it takes someone else to make a film more special, she played it down yet again; I asked her if she would come back to the industry, she said she would if she got a good role(all retired persons say that). She has put on quite a lot of weight, by the way.

I was happy to have gotten the snaps and showed it around to my friends who were standing in the so-called queue. We waited for Iron Man to get over, and the doors were opened for the crowd to move while the credits were playing, so we got to see the last scene after the credits roll.

Then we got inside and sat in what was to be the second occupied row from the screen. The reel played, but without sound, so they replayed it again with sound, from the beginning. Bh, as he had done in Billa, got up and started dancing for the Kamal entry, making our gang squirm in our seats for being the friends of a crazy guy dancing in the hall.

Before the intermission, during the Mukunda song, I decided to relieve myself, and was joined by Sr(who, as I mentioned, wasn't having a good time). On our way back we saw Kasturi doing a few calculations regarding the movie, the both of us asked one another whether to ask for a photo op. We did, she agreed, letting her hair down, saying 'This is a good time, right,' acknowledging the fact that we were the only people outside the hall, minimising the chance of everyone wanting a photo op. We took two photos each, getting to know that she would be there only for a further one week, while Sr and I told her the university we were from. And so we headed back for the remainder of the film.

Both pictures are on my Orkut profile.

None of us were impressed by Mallika's song(O_o), but were cracking jokes about the characters to kill time during the movie. Frankly, we were uneasy with a lacklustre output from Kamal.

With the movie over, we headed to our cars and on the way back we discussed what the film was all about, which, we couldn't derive. Nr, the super religious guy, gave a thorough discourse on the history of Vaishnavism and Shaivism(which I let in through one ear and out the other for most part) which Sr was very much interested in. Still, we couldn't arrive at a suitable logic for the film. Nr also presented his ideas about the political repercussions with the movie and they seemed very plausible.

A wonderful day albeit dampened by disappointment.

'Most beautiful women'

The Japanese have wonderful ideas; this is one of their crazier. Their logic is approach a random woman; tell her to introduce her most beautiful friend to them, and so on, till you reach no. 12, who will be one in so many women. The formula used by them, I haven't understood apart from deciphering that it is 1/(2^((n*2)-1)), for the nth woman they approached.

Here it is for Colombian, Italian and French women. The technique is effective to an extent.

I am ready to go on record, and say that, if ever there was such a list composed for an Indian city, I will faint halfway through the list.

The Power of 'One': Matt Drudge

This post is about Matt Drudge and how one individual is cited to be the driving force behind a nation's line of thought, atleast politically.

Frankly, a visit to www.drudgereport.com will make you dismiss the site as a useless remnant from the days the internet was born. It is a three column collection of links, devoid of graphics save a handful of pictures embedded from some other site, an unconventional layout of ads, banner and links: in all a seemingly boring place to visit.

However, scroll down a bit and you will see the statistics of the page displayed: 19 million+ visits in 24 hours. At first I was like, Are you kidding me? A Google and Wikipedia later I am told to believe that this is no ordinary site; it is a website which decides what the media should be talking about.

The website's history, courtesy Google search and Wikipedia, is that Matt started a mailing list with some news he collected from here and there, made it a website, published the Lewinsky scandal when noone would, became a sensation, sustained readership because of the links he posted and continues to be in the forefront of 'shaping public opinion' through his headlines and stories he links to.

All he does in link to various external websites, though he does host exclusive stories, like the O ba ma-turban uproar and the Mc C ain bomb-bomb-bomb-Ir an comment.

From what I have read on commentary about this website, the national media is forced to cover whatever Matt features on his website - because of the volume of visitors to his site. And increased coverage of his site in turn means more people returning to check for news.

So it's something like this: one guy, sitting in Miami, monitoring websites and his inbox for stories noone bothers to report or 'miss', decides to make an obscure article his main headline, and boom-it's all over the media! Isn't it fun to be that guy... This, is the power of one.

The story behind The Drudge Report goes beyond this: fine print on Al Go re's loss, John K er ry's debacle, Hil lary's downfall and negativism over M c Ca in will point to Matt Drudge's selection of news stories. He is mentioned as a factor in all these events. This also gives me the creeps because misusing it....well let's just hope he doesn't.

Of course, this website is mainly concerned about politics in the USA. So if you want to follow what's happening, this one site is almost more than enough.

For all his fame Matt is cited as a very reclusive guy, furthering his 'Godly' status. Atleast columnists refer to him(and his website) as one....

I am fascinated by this guy because for all the policies set by corporate enterprises, effort spent on presentation, content, research on target audiences, a guy with a simple, down to earth website linking, mind you, not even hosting stories can channel opinion so forcefully. Any media outlet dreams of such power.

Further reading: Google Matt Drudge and go through links over a couple of pages; for a summary Wikipedia him and his website.

The level of writing on my blog

I came across a graphic on a couple of blogs displaying their level of reading. One blog was supposedly of Graduate level, another was College level(something similar).

So I tried it out, entering my blog-site address in their search box-and turned out my blog was only Junior-reading level. This didn't make me happy, but I knew that the site scanned for words on the page and churned out a result based on the complexity of the words. I then pasted the link to a post where I had poured my heart out on my experiences with fictional novels and random movies here into their search box. (I'll be really frank: I did not realise the 'level' of writing on the post when I was drafting it; I went through it only when someone left a comment on it and I was bemused to see the kind of words there.)

Turns out now the level of my blog was 'Genius'.

My point is this: just because you don't write in hi-fi doesn't mean you aren't, or don't know, hi-fi. One of my friends has extremely high potential; going through his posts might not weigh on you, but when you reach the underlying message and meaning, you will rate his blog as super-genius.

Also, interjecting random 'complex' and 'uncommon' words derived from a word list purposely into a blog does not mean you have a great blog. Those combined words should have meaning and convey your message to the community, effectively, making the reader ponder about what the blogger is trying to communicate, instead of making him/her wonder from where those words descended from.