Da Vinci Code Ok, I thought the movie will be a substitute for the book. I was wrong, the movie made me read the book. I checked it out of the library and finished over the long weekend. Hey, any award for being the last person to read the book? :)

Though I watched the movie, the book kept me occupied. I would say the movie stayed true to the book and didnt deviate much, except for the way how it ended. It pretty much covered everything the book has to say. While reading I was googling constantly about various terms in the book, that took me to very interesting links. I was also using Google Earth to get a birds eye view of the locations mentioned in the book. You can very well say that I am the latest one to be bit by the Holy Grail bug. I just want to read more :)

While reading about the various brotherhoods like the Priory of Sions, I came across the Free Masons Society. I even managed to find the local chapter of this society which is 3 miles from where I stay. They have a dinner get together next month and it is open to everyone. I may drop by and see what exactly is going on :)

Couple of thing struck me hard in that invitation

1) It is on June the 13th , 13th
2) There is a Mona Lisa picture in the page where they have the invitation.

Go Figure ...  ¶ 8:58 PM 1 comments

  Finger crossing time NFM

Edit:- Crossed finger didnt work. Yesterday, one of my School's team went into the 3rd day of NCAA championship with a chance to secure the championship. Unfortunatley we had a bad day yesterday and slipped down. Though we played good today we couldnt close the gap and win it. It is tough to see a NCAA championship that was in our grasp go away :(  ¶ 10:23 AM 0 comments

  WriterSujatha.com WriterSujatha.com is being developed as an one stop shop for all of Sujatha's works. It is Thalaivar Sujatha's suggestion that a site be developed where all his writings will be available. The site is coming up pretty good. Right now his short stories are available for a modest subscription of $3. I would say it is a killer deal and all his fans should should sign up.

Desikan at Desikan.com is manintaing a Sujatha Pakkam where you can find some of his writings and more about Sujatha himself. Desikan is considered an autority on Sujatha's writings. Sujatha himself mentioned in Katrathum Petrathum about Desikan and how surprised he was when he brought him some of his published stories which he thought was long last.

Someday I would like to start and complete collecting the entire body of Sujatha's works. Till that time I think this website would be a great place for me to read his writings.  ¶ 10:45 PM 5 comments

  Record setting opening for The Da Vinci Code The Da Vinci Code opened with the second biggest ever collection for a movie. It raked in $224 millions in the opening weekend, which is second only to Star Wars : III Revenge of the Sith, released last year.

Tom Hanks movies already collected over $ 4 billion at the box office. Yeah, you read that correct, Tom Hanks is responsible for $4 billion in collection through his movies. You now can add the $224 million to it. And I did contribute my $9.50 towards the $224 million this past weekend :)

Ps:

Saran in the comments section asked what I think about the movie. My reply turned out to be a little long (a mini blog of sorts:)) . So I am posting about the movie here. No spoilers, go ahead read it.

I didnt read the book yet. I wasn't having any more information than what i saw in the movie. So, I really liked it :)

Having said that I am not completley sold on the Da Vinci Code. The premise upon which the entire claim is based is pretty weak ( I am avoiding details for fear of letting out spoilers). May be the book has more information than the movie.

I was reading about the "Priory of Sions" the "Opus Dei" , "The Knights of Templar" and other related information immediatley after watching the movie. Came back from the movie at 1:00 am and started reading, slept only at 3:30 am. Have to read the book soon :)  ¶ 6:12 PM 3 comments

  TN High School (+2) results Tamilnadu High School results were announced today. Here is a rundown of this years result.

1) 74.5 % of those appeared, cleared the exam (71.7 % boys and 77.1 % girls).
2)Bharathram from Nanganallur topped this years class securing 1180/1200.
3)Santha Prakash and Vivek Sandeep, both from Chennai, checked in at the second spot with a score of 1179/1200.
4)Bhanupriya from Voothankarai rounded of the top three with a score of 1177/1200
5) Number of students that scored a full 200/200 in individual subjects.
Physics - 17
Chemistry -119
Biology - 87
Botony - 55
Zoology - 35
Maths - 850
Accountancy - 314
Commerce -529.

The results can be seen online at High School results  ¶ 10:55 PM 0 comments

  Maniratnam's Guru Ok, I knew that Mani is working on his next project Guru but didnt know anything about the cast or the crew and obviously the storyline. I was reading Rajeev Menon's interview in this weeks Vikatan and there was a question about the movie Guru, for which Rajeev is the cameraman. The interviewer asked whether Guru is based on the life of Late Dhirubhai Ambani. This got me excited because I would love to watch Dhirubhai's life story as a Maniratnam movie.

Rajeev just about evaded the question but did tell that Bachan Jr plays a gas station attendant and the movie occurs from 1950 -1980. This strongly resembles Dhiruji's life itself. He also started his career as a gas station attendant in Yemen. It would be great if Guru is indeed based on Dhirubhai's life. We all can expect another Nayagan like movie that told us Varadaraja Mudaliar's story.  ¶ 8:42 PM 0 comments

  Life without TV Just when I went to swtich on the TV to watch My name is Earl, I realized something. My TV watching hours /week has come down dramatically. Its not that I was encompassed with work or anything. It just happened. Ever since the NCAA basketball championship, I am not turning the TV on as often. For the past month or so I watch less than 4 hours/week of TV. The 8:00 to 9:00th hour of NBC Thursdays, a Scrubs here, a Colbert report there and that would be it. I watch quite a bit of TV, so this is something. Ofcourse the lack of my favorite sporting events also factored in the reduced hours (NBA?, wake me up... when the season ENDS... :))

It kind of feels good and I hope to continue this way of watching 4 hours or less TV every week.

Ps: There is no My name is Earl today, thats a bummer  ¶ 8:12 PM 0 comments

  Lance Armstrong's billion dollar mission Lance Armstrong is more busy these days with his fight against cancer. Couple of weeks back I was reading the SI story on Lance's work for cancer treatment. He intends to raise awarness, as much money and resources as possible for this cause. Too bad the full article that appeared online a couple of weeks back is no longer available. You can still read it in Sports Illustrated magazine.The article by Austin Murphy is this weeks cover story.

SI.com do have another small article by Austin Murphy. You can read it here  ¶ 6:56 AM 0 comments

  Happy Mothers day I am the kind of person that believes everyday is Mothers/Fathers/Your beloved ones day. Still, it is good to stop and actually say that to your beloved ones at least once a year.

So, here goes my Happy Mothers day wishes to everyone :)  ¶ 12:00 AM 2 comments

  NCAA 07 Football Promo My school stadium and one of our players are featured in the promo for NCAA 07 Football video game from EASports . Go ahead and figure it out for yourself who we are :)



Videoclip Courtesy: EASports.com  ¶ 11:58 AM 0 comments

  2006 Summer movie season starts in ...5 ...4 ...3 ... 2 ...1 ... NOW The 2006 Summer movie season starts today with Mission Impossible III leading the way. I also launched my movie watching season today. At 2:30 PM myself and 5 other co-workers took off and watched MI III matinee. One good thing about the matinee shows are they cost just $6.50 and you save $3.00 right of the bat. With the busy movie season coming up I may squeeze in a matinee or two. Ok, back to the summer movies. With MI III the season gets off to a good start. The usual Ethan Hunt and his IMF adventures. You get all you expect from the MI franchise and thats the good thing, you wont be let down watching it.

Here is the list of movies that I am expecting to watch this up-coming summer

1) The Davinci Code - As I said before, one less book to read. I am confident that Tom Hanks wont let us down.
2) The Breakup - Will this be this years Wedding Crashers ? we will find out. Some how I think this is a date/chick flick. Well, I thought the Crashers was out and out chick flick and didnt watch it till the 4th week. So wait and watch kind of movie
3) The Fast and The Furious : Tokyo Drift: 3rd TFTF series, so I will watch it.
4) Nacho Libre : Jack Black movie from the director of Napolean Dynamite, I am watching it on the first day.
5) Click - Home boy Adam Sandler's movie with a theme that I have fascinated about before.
6) Superman returns - Spider Man gets to meet us only next summer. I hope Superman fills us in the mean time
7) Pirates of the Carribean : Dead Man's Chest - I didnt watch the first Pirates of the Carribean (yeah I didnt) and plans to watch this first and catch the first one on DVD.
8) You, me and Dupree: Will this be a sleeper movie of this season, lets see
9) Miami Vice : Will Ferrel and Jamie Foxx in the movie version of the 80s TV show. The last Michael Mann two hero movie I watched was Heat with the dynamic duo of Robert Di Niro and Al Pacino.
Edit: - Make that Collin Farell, not Will Ferell
10) World Trade Center: A strong themed movied with one of my favorite actors playing the lead. I am making amends for missing out two Nicholas Cage movies last year in the theaters (Lord of War and Weatherman) and catching them on DVD. This time no missing his movie in the theatre.


There are couple of other movies, one with Robin Williams and two other cartoon movies. I am not sure whether I will catch them (hint :- matinee, hellboy), I will try though.  ¶ 9:25 PM 4 comments

  This is some great news to hear The International Labor Organization reports that the total number of child workers across the globe has come down significantly. It was 246 million in 2000 and has come down to 218 million in 2004. 218 million is still a very high number but atleast we are heading in the right direction as a human race.

The report is cautiously optimistic that the most egregious form of Child Labor will possibly be eliminated by the next decade. You wont know how much happier this report makes me feel. In a decade we would be able to say the kids of the world are relatively safe and wont be put in harms way in the name of Child Labor. This report is a bright spot in a world that is increasingly getting pessimistic. All is not bad in the world just yet. With sustained effort and proper direction there will be a solution for all the issues that seems incurable now.

I found the 105 page original report and more information regarding child labor here

In Tamilnadu, my own state back in India, one could see child labor in almost all the places. The worst being kids forced to work in the fire work factories. A concerted effort asking to ban the fireworks out of Sivakasi has led to some change of mind among the owners of these factories. We are still getting conflicting reports about the ground reality in Sivakasi.

Lets all do thats possible within our means to chip away at issues like this. After all, solutions to most of the issues just needs a start somewhere and before we know the answer to the problems will grow and sustain itself towards a resolution.  ¶ 10:20 PM 0 comments

  Euphoria's Mehfuz Euphoria's new album Mehfuz is out. I dont know much about music and my reviews start and end with either I like something or I dont like it all. Based on that I would I say I really liked Mehfuz. You dont have to take this from a self avowed Euphoria fan. Listen to it and decide for yourself.

Dhoom, the official website of Euphoria has got many videos for download from previous albums. I downloaded all of them. It feels good when you have Dhoom, Phir Dhoom, Gully, Mantra and my favorite Maaeri secured in your system that you can go and watch it whenever you feel like watching it.  ¶ 11:07 PM 0 comments

  I am an Uncle now Say hi to the worlds newest uncle :) My younger sister gave birth to a baby boy at 5:02 PM IST. Just talked to the Brother- in- Law and my parents. Will talk to my sister pretty soon. Boy, am I happy or what :)  ¶ 5:54 AM 2 comments

  Stuck in the skull It happens to all of us. We listen to some song in the morning on the radio and it gets stuck in our mind, replaying again and again. At first it will be nice to have the “buzz” but after sometime it will appear as if the song is taking over our head, making the “buzz’ an annoyance. During those times I used to tell myself, “ ok, this is the last round you are having in my head”. This works pretty good and I won’t have the song ringing in my head again for the day.

Yesterday when I was watching RDB the Rang De Basanti bhangra got inside my head and pitched tent. Almost after a day it is still ringing and I have no plans of stopping it now. I have given it a free ride in my skull for it never seems to be boring and has given me a great buzz for over a day now :)  ¶ 3:50 PM 2 comments