bing'o !

Just yesterday when I finished watching the official preview of the Microsoft search engine Bing, my first thought was "would this make God (also known as Google) look complacent?." Part of this thought process could be credited to my craving status quo in all spheres.


Rafe Needleman echoes the same thought in the last few lines of his gush post, well almost.

Manly Frame

Mohanlal's Anandan calls on Nasser's Anna Durai at the latter's residence when he is down with fever.

Anandan inquires about Anna's condition, and they exchange pleasantries. Prakash Raj's Tamizhchelvan can now be seen in the frame.



Anna politely rejects Anandan's monetary token to the party at this stage.

"The party doesn't need your money; Reach the common man. Votes will pile up automatically."

Apart from the conceptual brilliance giving us a peep into the characters' psyche, so what if evil and grey, what stands out is the beauty in the framing. Now it is strange that I talk of beauty in a frame where there is not a sight of a single woman. But the beauty that comes out of the mesmerizing whites, the unshakeable blacks, the rich contrasts is beyond words. Particularly in the last frame, filled with nondescript faces of nondescript men barring Lal, the orientation and placement of all the men whether intentional or not is truly outstanding.

When was the last time a picture (full of raw looking men) looked so ethereal almost making mockery of an entire battery of breathtaking women present otherwise in the film; Revathy Menon, Gautami Tadimalla, Madhoo Ranganathan, Aishwarya Rai, and Tabu?

:)


Iruvar (1997)


film grab courtesy: madras talkies

classified!

As if the existence of stereotypes (make that negative) around us in our societies isn't unfortunate enough, the fact that some communities, groups actually live up to that image is far more worrisome. I remember this was exactly a part of conversation between Lakshmi and I just the other day. It is almost as if the target groups have reconciled to the fact nothing can be done, or rather generations of conditioned thinking cannot be undone, and armed with this worldly knowledge they feel it is their right to behave the way they do, almost. In their not being able to do anything about it, the actions and lifestyles are justified in retrospect. I have not travelled far across this planet, at least not as yet, but I can safely say no society is free from this.

Why does a particular community act super frugal to the point of being stingy? Why does one race listen to only a particular type of music, or endorse a certain clothing fashion? Why does one group have to always act and sound intellectual, almost warranting pseudo-intellectual masturbations? Why is one group always loud mouths while the other is fool infested? When behaviors, attitudes become social tags or ID cards without a word being spoken, you know there is a room for worry. If you take any group/community/entity/strata and I hate to say this, its behavior will not be far from the image it has created, or that has been attributed. 99 out of 100 times. My heart goes out to all those who inspite of being a mole minority are consciously or unconsciously a part of a silent movement to break these stereotypes.


John Cloud in the latest issue of the Time (June 1, 2009) addresses a slightly related topic with more insight and well, cushions it with some research findings.

The following piece of work is credited to John Cloud and Time magazine, and I have only scanned the article for the sake of more readership. The copyright is duly acknowledged.


(click on the image for a bigger view)


As for me, I belong to all those demographics to which not-so-friendly qualities are ascribed, and on my part I try to be away from them. As Cloud would have liked it, I have not internalized them! :)

But I am also increasingly forced to believe in the adage that not without a reason do stereotypes exist, and that indeed is a scary thought.

Picture...Perfect

courtesy: Columbia Pictures, Phedon Papamichael

Will Smith's Christopher Gardner walks out of the firm after being told of his appointment as a new broker. But this moment arrives not until after a series of mind-sickening, confidence-numbing harrowing moments in his life. So this only makes what follows special; the bursts of joy, of the pent up tears.

Gardner with his teary eyed face, erupting in absolute joy in a sea of undulating faces, and with his self worth intact, stands tall


literally and figuratively.

Meet the Gods

Now contrary to what the scriptures have had us believe, King Raavana has also been acknowledged for better things, credited to be an erudite, and apart from everything else a staunch Siva bhakta.

We have been told Raavana owed it to Lord Siva for his name, for his powers.

Raavana needed Siva. May be history repeats itself.


If the grapevine is to be believed, Santosh Sivan would soon join Madras Talkies' Raavana after the original cinematographer walks out on the team.


No regrets, this shall only be one holy communion. Sure the Gods must be crazy.


:)

Chew this Beatle (sic)

courtesy: UTV Spotboy


Ronnie sure Screws the rest.


Welcome back Tigmanshu Dhulia.


Dil Se...

Congress Grass or Gross Congress?

The result of the victorious Indian National Congress?




"Rahul... naam to suna hoga!"

Angles (sic) & Demons (within)

One of the tracks on my Pod right after a viewing of Ron Howard's latest,

"Do aur do ka jod hameshaa chaar kahaan hota hai
Soch samajh waalon ko thodi naadani de maula"

..................................................................... Jagjit Singh


:)

Political Swearing In Ceremony

DMK, DMKD, AIADMK, DVK, DTMK, DMC, DMDK, DP, DPK, AIAMK, AIMMK, AK M.G.R DMP, A M.G.R K, ATMK


For you, the ever uninitiated, who thought the above were the choicest of Telugu cuss words, they are political parties in Tamilnadu.

Promiscuity and Incest

thy name is Andhra Politics

fuck democracy... fuck democratic thinking... hail autocracy... fuck equality... fuck respect... fuck dignity... fuck decency... fuck courtesy... fuck manners... fuck maturity... fuck "grown-up"... fuck nicety... fuck "point-of-view"... fuck "others'-points-of-view"...

let there be only one point... let there be only one view...

fuck "in-others' -shoes"... let there be only shoe; yours with the sharpest of spikes that are going to trample others who don't listen to you


let there be absolute dictatorship... abide, survive.; rebel, have your organ chopped off.

one rule, one life

The Loss of Independents

"...If more than 90 per cent of distant Nagaland’s people come out to vote when less than half as many do in South Bombay it shows how parts of the country where real democracy was denied for long are so much more enthusiastic about it..."

..............................................................................................Shekhar Gupta, Indian Express



Subjective to the core, cynical to the core,nevertheless, this Shekhar here is a mover.