Sin City

Redefines the term 'comic book adaptation'. Violent and dark, this is pretty much what you expect when you watch a Robert Rodriguez movie that has Tarantino guest-directing. And yeah, Mickey Rourke is superb. 

Pandippada

A pathetic mishmash of different Dileep movies, this is strictly for the masochists. The only bright spot is Prakash Raj, who plays the title role, or at least half of it. 

Bloggers of the world unite

Man, this is not funny anymore. Here's Amit Verma's summary on the IIPM vs Sabnis/Bansal/free speech episode. The latest update is that Gaurav Sabnis has resigned from IBM over this issue.

Recap time

Since I have a few minutes free, thought I'd do a quick recap of what I've been reading these days.

1. Holes, by Louis Sachar - good, white heat read. Must look up the movie sometime - Sig Weaver, Jon Voight et al.
2. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl - mildly entertaining, this is Dahl wearing his books-for-kids hat.
3. Eragon, by Christopher Paolini - is there any fantasy novel that doesn't have a trace of Tolkien in it? This is not bad though, good enough to make me want to read the next one in the series (Eldest) just to know what happens. One can almost visualize the special effects laden movie waiting in the wings.
4. Heidi, by Johanna Spyri - groan.

Sangamam

The heavens opened up again when he launched into the last song, a medley of Azadi and Vande Mataram. It started raining like never before: cats, dogs, cows and bulls. We got completely drenched, soaked to our underwear. None of us moved, though. Nor did 20,000 others. Face uplifted, arms outstretched, we stood in the pouring rain and sang along with him, "Ma Tujhe Salaam!".

This is one experience I won't forget in a hurry. The poor audio, the rains, the sparse crowd and the late start be damned. Thank you, Mr Rahman.


- Fanaah
- Telephone mani pol
- Oh Humdum Suniyo Re
- Mangal Mangal
- Mehndi Hai
- Hum Hain Ek Pal Yahan
- Kabhi neem neem
- Roja Jaaneman
- Vennilave Vennilave
- Chinnamma Chilakamma
- An unreleased song from 'Water'
- His UN anthem for poverty eradication (unreleased)
- Chaiyya Chaiyya
- Hamma Hamma
- Muqabla Muqabla
- Mustafa Mustafa
- Ghanan Ghanan
- Love's never easy
- Theme song of Bombay (instrumental)
- Sivamani's usual solo stuff
- Enna Solla Pokira
- A Kannada version of Kannalane
- Pagdi Sambhal
- Chupke Se
- Chale Chalo
- Title song of Baba
- Taal se Taal
- Sa Ri Ga Me
- Azadi / Vande Maataram

..I might have missed a few.

Harsha's latest

Harsha's latest article makes sad reading.

The boy next door

There is this scamp of a boy who stays in my neighbourhood. He's about eight or nine years old and is one of the most aggressive children I've seen. Not to mention obsessively hungry - he cannot leave my house without grabbing something to eat. We don't really encourage his visits, as he is quite prone to knocking down vases, crashing Rachu's tricycle and the like. Sindha plays the good cop and I the bad cop with him - I generally give him the evil eye and shoo him out of the house if I see him inside.

He was not to be seen for a few days last week. Showed up on Friday with a fairly large mark on his face - some skin problem, I guessed. He didn't tell Sindha what it was, when she asked him. We came to know later that it was a burn mark. A burn caused by his mother who pushed a red hot metal piece against his face, because he broke something at home.

I really don't know what to do. It's not very easy going to the police to report this, but I should at least stop playing the bad cop when I meet him again.