Intentionally Left Blank

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Music By A.R Rahman

Retromercial - Premier Pressure Cooker (Tamil)

Music by A.R Rahman

Retromercial - Premier Pressure Cooker (Tamil)

Music by A.R Rahman

Retromercial - Digjam (Starring Shekhar Kapoor)

Retromercial - Complan

Complan Boy = Shahid Kapoor
Complan Girl = Ayesha Takia

Retromercial - I Love You Rasna

Ankita Jhaveri

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Cheeni Kum - Music Review

I just had questions when I heard the songs ...

How can they?

How can Raaja?

How can Balki?

WIll Raaja makes it big in bollywood with this soundtrack?

For the junta who do not understand Raaja's Demigod status and who have not grown up on his music, this album will be refreshing... Kudos to Balki for that... Balki has a Raaja fetish... Liril from Geetanjali, Kissan from Nizhalgal & Alaigal Oivathillai, LG PLasma Gold from Nenjathai Kiladhey and the ever popular Idea ad from Pallavi Anuipallavi....

(Source : Karthik 's itwofs )

But, for the time being, let me assume that people know their Raaja music...

1. Cheeni Kum

That is just Mandram vandha from Mouna Raaga redux for the 21st century - a little faster ; starts off on a higher note; more instruments; With peppy Shreya Ghoshal ... If you listen to the promo, the musicv might as well be for a small ad film...

But, there is no soul in this song. Every time you hear the opening notes of the tamil song with SPB deciding to mildly exercise his golden vocal cords, you are bound to get goosepimples... That feeling is gone in this song. It is strange to listen to a familiar number which sounds like a stranger now... That's The hardcore Raaja fan in me talking...

If I manage to leave that aside for a minute, I am sure I will singalong with the song... The version with Vijay Prakash is not even passable... He makes a half hearted attempt to tread the path between Hitting the Right Highs and Sounding Awful , eventually managing to be closer to the latter...

2. Jaane Do

This is one of those hidden Raaja Gems - Jotheyalli Jothi Jotheyalli from Geeta (a kannaqda film). See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKc5ia-N0Ak.Hardcore Raaja fans will be familiar with Vizhiyile Mani from Nooravadhu Naal, which was a rework of the same tune.

The song as such is very nice. SPB (in the original) Vs Shreya - Shreya manages to measure up.. This is the soft , earthy number which does not have too many instruments cluttering the soundscape...

3. Baatein Hawa
This is Kuzhaludhum Kannanukku from Mella Thirandhadhu Kadavu. I am relieved that when I hear this song the next time, Mike Mohan and Amala will be replaced by Tabu & AB in my mind's eye. I like the Sax and Percussion bits in the middle... Surefire hit...

4. Instrumentals

Vintage Raaja

technorati tags:Music, Review, Cheeni, Kum

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Thursday, October 05, 2006

Dirty Dancing - time of my life

Thursday, September 28, 2006

How to Identify place in India? from Masti Ki Paathshala

Masti Ki Paathshala: How to Identify place in India?

How to Identify place in India?

Scenario 1

Two guys are fighting and a third guy comes along, then a fourth and they start arguing about who's right.

You are in Kolkata

Scenario 2

Two guys are fighting and a third guy comes along, sees them and walks on.

That's Mumbai

Scenario 3

Two guys are fighting and a third guy comes along & tries to make peace.The first two get together & beat him up.

That's Delhi

Scenario 4

Two guys are fighting. A crowd gathers to watch. A guy comes along And quietly opens a chai-stall

That's Ahmedabad.

Scenario 5

Two guys are fighting and a third guy comes he writes a software program to stop the fight. But the fight doesn't stop b'cos of a bug in the program.

That's Bangalore

Scenario 6

Two guys are fighting. A crowd gathers to watch. A guy comes along and quietly says that "AMMA" doesn't like all this nonsense. Peace comes in.

That's Chennai.

Scenario 7

Two guys are fighting. Third guy comes along with a carton of beer. All sit together drinking beer and abusing each other and all go home being friends.

You are in Goa

Scenario 8

Two guys are fighting. Both of them take time out and call their friends on mobile. Now 50 guys are fighting.

You are DEFINITELY IN Punjab!

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

Ages since I saw this one.. what a great video ...

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Still More Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot

More Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot

:))

Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot

Yup!! Giant Robot ; Launch!

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Pulikesi Braveheart Speech Mash-up

Trippy Stuff with the "They can never take our freedom" speech dubbed on top of Vadivelu's dialogue.

Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi -comedy

Pudhupettai - Enga Area Video

More specifically... Padicha Naaye Ulla Varaadhe ....

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Solla Solla Enna Perumai - Complete Trip

This video is actually doing the rounds on the net...

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Kannada superstar Dr. Rajkumar singing Love me or hate me

If you liked "Operation Diamond Rocket" and "If you come today", you will like this... But Nothing to beat Eef you come today...

Monday, May 22, 2006

I Will Survive - Jesus Version

The worst song EVER!!

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Hilarious - Evolution of Dance

Monday, May 15, 2006

Granny Rocks... Sorry Raps

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Super Video gaaru - Number Onnulu

Sunday, November 06, 2005

I Saw Saw And Saw II too.

What A Movie ... I thought Saw-I was the classic mindf**k...
Saw-II was better...

The world is divided into people who think
Saw I rocks & Saw II Sucks
and
Both Saw I and Saw II Rock..Saw II rocks more....

Saturday, October 29, 2005

The Woodsman

The movie hits you somewhere between your solar plexus and your heart.

Nicole Kassell , the director, has won a lot of critical acclaim in the Indie film circuit and this film has been exhibited in a whole host of festivals. It was also nominated for the grand jury prize at Sundance.

Kevin Bacon ( resurfacing after a hiatus and Mystic River) has done a great job in portraying a sex offender who gets out on parole. He stays ironically opposite a school playground and works in a lumberyard. He is attracted to this no-nonsense woman (Kyra Sedgwick) and a relationship begins here. Eve ( The rapper) plays a good role in the movie.

He befriends Robin, a little girl and slowly is drawn towards her . The scenes which Kevin Bacon confronts his desire and faces his fears is sheer class.

The last 10 minutes just take you on such an emotional high. The movie is quiet, silent and subtle ; Yet screams out at you once you start watching it.Watch the movie at full volume as the natural sounds add to the impact.

Would rate this movie a 8.0 on overall impact , 6.5 on presentation and 6.5 for the soundtrack.
The Bacon Brothers (Kevin and his bro) have a song in this movie.

Worth a involved dekko.

Friday, October 28, 2005

Ordinary Decent Criminal

Would rate this movie a 5.5 on overall impact , 7.0 on presentation and 8.0 on soundtrack.

Colin Farrell in his pre-Tigerland days looks slightly lost and Kevin spacey does another Kaiser Soze. Linda Fiorentino (Dogma, MIB) is atrocious trying to put on an Irish accent.
Worth a dekko as some of the gags like the one where the cops stick on to their suspect like fly paper and not letting go of them are brilliant. The soundtrack is super duper.

Desi Humour in USA and other fun links

Russell Peters - He is a Desi stand-up comedian.
Couple of his good videos - The one about the Indian and the Chinese - Rollicking!!
This one got him into the spotlight - Nice long clip

This desi comic strip is hilarious (Some of the views they express may shock conservatives)

Nice Videos and Images @ Uglyjackass
Star Wars Masks can be found here - Print and wear types...
Political analysis of Bushisms (Hilarious video)

File extension quiz

Which File extension are you quiz

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Vin Diesel Break Dancing (Clip when he was in his teens and what a geek he was)

Vin Diesel breakdancing (UGH!!!)

Monday, October 17, 2005

Link List - II - Too Assorted

William Hung and the search for Really Awful Music

William Hung
The quest to identify really awful music ended with William Hung . This guy was on American Idol and was really B A D ( To say the least). But, he became America's "15 second darling) when he told the American public which was yet to recover from their laughing bout "I already gave my best. I have no regrets at all." See That Clip Here

If you do not believe me, listen to him butcher
Bailamos, Shake Your Bon Bon and She Bangs (This one is out of the world !!!)

More on him in this Wikipedia entry and this blog
"While a civil engineering student at the university, Hung was inspired to audition for the third season of the reality talent search program in San Francisco during September 2003 after winning a talent contest at his dormitory. Producers never told him that his audition would be broadcast, and he only found out about it when it aired four months later. His audition was the final one on the January 27, 2004 installation, the coup de grâce of an hour-long episode that showcased other would-be pop stars, mostly lacking in talent.
As judges Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul tried to hold back their laughter, judge Simon Cowell dismissed Hung's performance outright: "You can't sing, you can't dance, so what do you want me to say?" Hung defended himself, stating "I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all." Jackson and Abdul applauded his positive response, and Abdul said, "That's the best attitude yet." Hung's response to Cowell's criticism was in stark contrast to earlier contestants' often angry, confrontational rejoinders. Hung also remarked, "I have no professional training," eliciting a response of mock surprise from Simon Cowell, saying that it was "the surprise of the century". Hung was obviously not admitted to the next round of auditions."

Others
There is also this lovely clip floating around on the Net which had the top 5 Worst singers in the same contest

Details of the worst American Idol singers here

Nice Blog on the lastest Idol and with mp3s (It obviously includes the worst performances)

Videos on American Idol's Worst here, here and here.

What about India? Popstars video

April Winchell has this amazing collection of sounds. My personal favourites are
1. Paul Anka throttling Smell Like Teen Spirit
2. Salma and Sabina bawling a Hindi version of ABBA's Dancing Queen (Image) (Sounds)
3. Come Together by Robin Williams
4. Maria Schneider Yodels
5. Chipmunks belt out Tambourine Man

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Linklist - I - Apple and Ellen Feiss

For starters, look at a Net Legend ( The Apple Ad Starring Ellen Feiss)
http://www.apple.com/switch/stories/ellenfeiss.html

And the cult which started around her...
http://www.ellenfeiss.net/
http://ellenfeiss.gloriousnoise.com/
http://www.wemakedotcoms.com/ellen/
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,54333,00.html
http://www.cootey.com/ellen.feiss.soundbytes.html
http://www.j-walk.com/ss/jokes/ellenfeiss.htm
http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1148994

There are also Yahoo and Google Sub-sections in her "Glory"
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Systems/Apple/Macintosh/Advocacy_and_Evangelism/Feiss,_Ellen/ http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Television/Commercials/Apple_Computer/Switch_Campaign/Feiss__Ellen/ http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Systems/Apple/Macintosh/Advocacy_and_Evangelism/Feiss,_Ellen/

Cadet Kelly - "An Officer and a Gentleman" remade for Teens

Cadet Kelly :

From the esoteric to the Mundane - Hillary Duff :(

Watched this made for "Made For Cable" movie starring Hillary Duff as a girl who has to go to a military school as her step-dad becomes commandant of the camp.Camp is the right word - The movie swings from passable to "Hillarious" to the absolute pits!! With the right amount of luck, this movie may just be remembered by this teen generation ( remember Best of the Best, Ernest Goes to Jail and Bloodsport)

This Movie is only for people who are in their early teens and who believe that the Tooth fairy leaves them money.

Banlieue 13 - French Action Flick

The last few months have been dreamy and there is a lot which has happened. Anyway, I am clear about what I want to blog on every day - The stuff which I read, see, hear and surf ! (nothing new)

Will Open with Banlieue 13 : Twitchfilm has this to say

" What is there to say about this film that hasn’t been said here before? The first in what will surely be many starring roles for David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli, Banlieue 13 is a near future actionioner built around the unique and dazzling physical abilities of its two stars. How unique? Well, Belle is the founder of an entirely new extreme sport known as parkour. "...............

.................." Banlieue 13 is, quite simply a ride. Don’t go looking for a lot of depth, but for high energy, stylish action it’s hard to beat. Yes, it is rather front loaded on the action but the action is quite simply stunning. Belle and Rafaelli both get lengthy early sequences to stru their stuff and strut they do. Rafaelli has squared off on screen against Jet Li in the past without looking out of place and here he gets to show the full extent of his skills, leaping, kicking and flipping his way through an angry mob of gun wielding criminals. Belles intro is even more impressive as he leads a mob of angry gangsters on a merry chase over, under, beside and trhough a series of high rise buildings. And I’m not kidding about that at all … Belle’s particular discipline is a mixture of free climbing, acrobatics, and a willingness to fling yourself bodily from rooftop to rooftop. You have never seen anyone quite like him before. Banlieue succeeds were earlier parkour themed films Yamakasi and Les Fils Du Vent fell flat for a number of reasons. First, they found a believable scenario to fully exploit Belle’s unique talents. Second, Belle and Rafaelli both are blessed with natural charisma and screen presence to match their impressive physical skills. Third, their skills are simply stunning – there are no wires are digital effects used to augment the action sequences whatsoever – and, having trained together for years, the pair work together with startling precision. And fourth, the supporting cast is uniformly strong, particularly the villainous Taha, played with scene chewing abandon by one of the film’s screen writers and his chief henchman K2 who strikes a near perfect balance of physical menace, blustering humor and oafish charm."

The movie poster is always an indication of the action movie "paisa vasool" quotient.

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Miscellaneous things on the Net

Disposable Mail IDs
http://spambob.com/
http://www.mailinator.com

Saturday, April 09, 2005

That Search for knowledge

There is a dictionary which keeps in touch with modern times accessible at http://www.urbandictionary.com

I heard the term crunk and was determined to know what it stands for. It was a new sound last summer and some unknowns were elevated ( what's new) to Culp status - Read more at http://slate.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=2103955&

Jazz slang at http://nfo.net/usa/slang.html

Great Swing Era Bands at http://nfo.net/index.html and this site also has sounds...

Nice pages for Classic Films and Film Academia
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/filmgenresbib.html
http://www.academicinfo.net/filmlibrary.html

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Crazy Little (!?) thing called URL

I just thought what is the shortest URL in the world which works :
Fairly straight :
http://www.com/

Then, I started off on a wild goose chase - The Longest URL - I have several contenders viz.

http://users.aol.com/rynocub/this.is.a.very.long.url/this.very.long.url.was.created.by/the.rynocub.home.page/which.was.created.by/ben.tolsky/and.radioactive.chicken/which.is.a.ben.tolsky.company/this.url.is.the.longest.url.made.by/ben.tolsky/finally.this.is.over.htm
http://www.thisisthelongestdomainnamethereisanditssixtysevencharacterslong.com/
http://www.handelsblatt.com/hbiwwwangebot/fn/relhbi/sfn/buildhbee/cn/bp_artikel_e/strucid/PAGE_201098/pageid/PAGE_201098/docid/396647/SH/0/depot/0/index.html
http://www.thepersonwithanewideaisacrank-untiltheideasucceeds-by-marktwain.com/
http://www.thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensomeandthensomemoreandmore.com/
http://www.johnkerryisadouchebagbutimvotingforhimanyway.com/
http://www.menwholooklikekennyrogers.com/
http://www.111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111.com/
http://www.wemadeoutinatreeandthisoldguysatandwatchedus.com/
http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.com/
http://www.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com/
http://www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch.com/
http://www.modestapparelchristianclothinglydiaofpurpledressescustomsewing.com/

One of these sites offered a very wonky e-mail service and I signed up.
Result :
inirs@abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com

Monday, September 06, 2004

Tina Sugandh - Tabla Chick and other artists with a Hip-India sound

I never knew there existed a Tabla Chick!!

Hit the following sites for more info :
www.tablagirl.com

2 Recent Interviews :
http://in.rediff.com/movies/2004/sep/06tina.htm
http://www.stuffmagazine.com/cover_girls/html/girl_398.html

Speaking of artists trying to make a dent in the World Music scene with an Indian Sound,
there is Karsh Kale (http://www.karshkale.com/), DJ Cheb I Sabbah ( http://www.chebisabbah.com/), Nitin Sawhney (http://www.nitinsawhney.com/), Midival Punditz (http://www.punditz.com/), Zakhm (http://www.mutinysounds.com/index.php3).

One of the big labels in the new Hip-India Sound is Six Degrees ( http://www.sixdegreesrecords.com/ )

Thursday, August 19, 2004

My First Blog ( I guess this one is the most used title in the history of Blogging)

What a crazy week it has been! Out of action for 3 days and just thinking through what I wanted todo to kill boredom. I thought I will make Top lists for everything ( a la John Cusack's Character Rob Gordon in "High Fidelity" (IMDB Link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146882) and rant and rave about a few movies every day...If this BLOG degenerates into a sort of personal Journal, so be it.

So, here goes :
Top 3 Songs to Hum when you are Feeling Low
1. What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong ( Lyrics : http://www.mathematik.uni-ulm.de/paul/lyrics/louisa~1/whataw~1.html)
2. Tubthumping - Chumbawumba - Feels kind of crazy when you hear the line "Pissing the Night Away" sung as it is the mushiest line ever written! (Lyrics : http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/chumbawamba/31113.html)
3. Bizarre Love Triangle - Frente (Lyrics : http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frente!/57294.html)

Movie :

KILL BILL
The ultimate reference page is http://tarantino.webds.de/tarantino/movie/killbill/articles/references-guide.htm . It has all the dope on the movie which will make you hit the pause / rewind buttons very frequently when you watch the movie AGAIN after looking at this site. To hear what made Tarantino do all that he did in Kill Bill, see http://japattack.com/japattack/film/tarantino.html .

City of God
(IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317248 ; Official Site : http://cidadededeus.globo.com/ ; Original Book by Paulo Lins : http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/8483102358/qid=1092854180/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-4642043-7761736?v=glance&s=books)
Actually made as a movie in Portugese (I never ever thought I will watch a movie in Portugese), this deals with the seamy underbelly of Rio and the life in the slum called "Cidade De Deus - City of God". Interesting names for characters like Rocket, Lil' Dice, Carrot, Knockout Ned, The Runts, Tender Trio, etc. The The movie has a narrative similar to Alaypaayuthey ( Saathiya for the people who live in North India), Pulp Fiction, Amores Perros (More about this movie later) where somewhere the end of the movie loops back to the beginning. Unforgettable characters. When is this movie going to see the theatres in India???