Reign over me

Only sentimental and non action movie that I really loved this year.. I always feel uneasy watching Adam Sandler's movies, since many of them turn out to be sentimental overkills. I saw the trailer of this movie when in Transformers. The soundtrack was good, classic rock, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Cocker, et al. So thought would watch the movie, hey, what better can you do in a sunday afternoon with nothing to do and streamable movies online?
'Click' was the last one I watched, it was really an overkill, trying to say goodness to the people, I sometimes found it to be a preaching cut. So when I started watching, I had no expectations. Man I should say, Sandler is great actor. The way he potrays post dramatic stressed patient, and simplicity in life that he practices, friendship, taking no crap from others, freedom of life, it was really a mango milk shake in the midst of very hot andhra biriyani.
Watch it friends, you wont be disappointed.

JUMPER - next movie I am waiting for

Villeneuve in Nascar! Alas, not what you think.

Jacques villeneuve (ah, I've got the spelling right) made an unsuccessful attempt in 2007 to enter Nascar while he tried to follow the footsteps of Montoya. He found driving for no one at the end. Now, this year he is again trying to enter Nascar, but not in Nextel or Busch series as you'd think, but the 'CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES'. He's gonna test for Toyota next Monday. I found the following pic in one of the F1 blogs I read, funniest pic from this year's motorsport world...

Greatest F1 video

Ever thought F1 is not that interesting since very few or no overtaking happens in the front liners?? Watch this.. unbelievable video. This wasn’t a battle for a championship; this wasn’t even a battle for the race win. This was a no-holds-barred duel for pride.Arnoux’s Renault was packing a 1.5-litre turbo and was kinder to its Michelin tyres. So when he passed Villeneuve with a handful of laps to go that should have been that. But when Villeneuve dived past again into the first corner, tyres locked solid and billowing smoke, the two began slugging it out until the chequred flag fell.

Le plus grand duel de tout les temps

Best battles in Formula - 1

Great compilation

Bourne, Heidfeld,Rosberg,friendship day........

As a hardcore action movie fan, I couldnt be happier than when I was watching
the ultimate movie last night, Bourne Ultimatum. One of my favourite series,
actor, and action baby, full fledged action.
One scene even kept me at the edge of the seat, and held my breadth for atleast
20 seconds, the police car, VW Toureg crash, and one scene I clapped with full
force was when Bourne helped the British journalist dodge the assasins through
the streets of London, and waterloo station. Plot mixed up with action and
acting at one of it's highest points.. I would put this movie at no.1, just
before Live free or die hard, in the charts of this summer's movies. I am thinking
of writing a full blown review for this movie. 3 years was worth the wait.


Woke up this morning after just a 4 hour sleep, to watch a very interesting
qualifying session of Formula 1. Fisichella holding up Yamamoto, and Nico
Rosberg finding his pace. One of my favourite drivers of the year Nick Hiedfeld
got the ever eluding 3rd in qualifying, and another good driver Nico Rosberg
getting higher with not so frontline car. His 'midfield' status can be
questioned if he can finish in the same place as qualifying. Only sadness was
Raikkonen not finiding his pace, and Massa,... Talking about Massa, he was all
over the place in the final section of Qualifying 2(Q2), and the team's confusion
leading to no fuelling during a pit stop. I felt sorry for him. I think Raikkonen
will pass Hiedfeld during the race, and there would be sure competetion between the
2 Mclarans, and would expect some confusion during the show. Hey, Mclarans arent
the best when it comes to pit stop strategy.



And to all my friends, school, college, Masters, workplace, have a very happy
friendship day. This is one feeling to be cherished for life.

MoveD!!

Not the blog, but my home.. Ihave moved back to the UTD apartment complex(waterview appts) and in with 3 other friends of mine. The place is smaller than my present home, which according to me is one of the most beautiful houses anyone can live in.. :( SOb.. anyways, change is good. Part of the reason to move is leasing issues, and financial(some friends moved out)

Moved most of the contents yesterday over a period of 6 hours. It was tough.. Not only the taking down of current house, but carrying tables and other big stuff 2 floors up. Was soaked in sweat when it was all over. Today and tomorrow will be cleaning day(not by us, appada!!!).

Waiting for Bourne Ultimatum this Friday. Should be awesome, one of my favourite actors and I love the series as a whole.. Will miss Chris Cooper, but David Strathairn should do a good job along his lines.

I have been collecting Google earth collections(Zipped Keyhole Markup Language KMZ). I then found Google earth community, I downed F1 circuits, Cricket grounds, Brands Hatch circuit, Tourism places in Europe[:)] Do take a look, it is amazing.. In case anyone wants to make sightseeing points for people using Google Earth like Google has here:
http://earth.google.com/sites/

Godfather's Lawyer

Just a ltl joke to let you know am still alive in this blogworld..


A Mafia Godfather, accompanied by his attorney, walks into a
room to meet with his former accountant.

The Godfather asks the accountant, "Where is the 3 million bucks
you embezzled from me?" The accountant does not answer.

The Godfather asks again, "Where is the 3 million bucks you
embezzled from me?"

The attorney interrupts, "Sir, the man is a deaf mute and cannot
understand you, but I can interpret for you."

The Godfather says, "Well ask him where my damn money is!" The
attorney, using sign language, asks the accountant where the 3
million dollars is.

The accountant signs back, "I don't know what you are talking about."
The attorney interprets to the Godfather, "He doesn't know what
you are talking about."

The Godfather pulls out a 9 millimeter pistol, puts it to the
temple of the accountant, cocks the trigger and says, "Ask him
again where my damn money is!"

The attorney signs to the accountant, "He wants to know where
it is!"

The accountant signs back, "OK! OK! OK! The money is hidden in
a brown suitcase behind the shed in my backyard!"

The Godfather says, "Well....what did he say?"

The attorney interprets to the Godfather, "He says...go to hell...
..that you don't have the guts to pull the trigger."

Enna satham intha neram

She was holding my hand, sad since she's going to leave me. It was a bright afternoon and I was in Chennai domestic airport. I bought an entry ticket for Rs.20 and went in, rolling her big suitcase. She had Da Vinci's code novel in her right hand,tucked in firmly. Her dress was a beautiful red salwar kameez with a free flowing hair. Her eyes were dry and red. She asked if she can get a bottle of water since her throat too was dry and I ran and got her one.
She then went into the ticketing zone to check in her bags, I waited at the entrance. My friend Shiva was with me. He asked something about my car, to which I didnt listen. I was looking at her.
She checked in, came back and told her flight was leaving in another 40 minutes. I gave her the greeting I had bought for her. She smiled looking at it. I hugged her good bye and was talking about something, my back started to hurt very much. Felt rough under me, some repeating sound coming from not so distant place from me. I had been sleeping and someone was walking in the mezzanine floor.Enna satham intha neram.
The time was 12:31 PM, and it was a bright afternoon. I hoped to not have woken up at all. Damn,it has been a very long time since I had a heartful dream.

ALPINE to the rescue

Two weeks with no customizable music and lousy radio which talks about mascaras and girlfriends cheating their partners because they got bored of the relationships, et al. Phew.. Good that it came to an end. I installed a music system in my car.
The original set had 6 cd changer manufacturer’s Infinity system. The speakers were good. Just the cd changer was struck. I can say with full knowledge that I have changed radio channels more than 50 times a day (I drive around 2:10 hrs a day to/from work, mostly rush hour traffic). I began to hate it.
Last Saturday I decided I had to get this thing done even though I wasn’t fully energetic(?). Got an alpine CDA 9883 system, A for aux input enabled. The whole electronics was changed and it was costlier than my original budget, but hey, why complain when you are happy with the result?

They gave me an output-input aux cable for free (24$ free for 330$ business!) I got the car back last night and the audio was simply amazing. The 45 W internal amp was good for the kinds of music I hear (mostly tamil and English hard rock, no need for subs). This morning I connected my Sony Network walkman with all my favourites in it, simply great time driving to work..
Note about Saturday was the movie 1408 and some stuff to celebrate Saturday night!! The movie was ok, watchable, but I liked John Cusack’s acting. He was really good once when he stubbornly refuces to believe in ghosts (he has written two books contradicting whoever believed in ghosts, visits every place that were reported haunted to only sleep a boring night) and the scene when his dead daughter walks up and hugs him.
I am also waiting for Bourne Ultimatum, the last in the Bourne series by Robert Ludlum. He is one of my favourite actors, and the series is just too good..


Movies ,movies and more movies. I missed ratatouille last night when I had to stay back to report on my office work. Damn!! Wrong timing. Transporters releases tomorrow..

Konigf1.com is a small group of F1 fans in India. There is a fantasy game where you can select 2 teams and 4 drivers that you hope to win the following GP. I put my faith on my favorite 2 teams and 4 drivers (er Alonso aint my fav, but I thought he’d be aggressive since he was made to play 2nd role in McLaran, in the recent past He was aggressive, but a little too much. That is the difference between winners and Legends, you know who I am referring to). I had come 6th last time for the Indy race, now 2nd. Feels good, but if I had selected Kubica, the 2nd BMW driver, I’d have been at the top of the list. arun_schumi_rocks is my id.

F1 Vs IRL

Me and my roomie were debating about F1 and IRL, which is what. F1 is according to me, one of the greatest sports ever. I love cars, the tech that goes into them, and the speed, beauty of handling and much more. So am into the intricacies of driving. Thus am a fan of F1. It all started back in my 10th grade when I was changing channels and there was a race going on. It showed the drivers were at 310 Km/hr, man street hawk being real? I watched it. A guy won the race, but it was so awesome watching how the drivers turned, handled corners, breaked.
I bagan watching regularly. Me being a fan the RED team's street cars, it was smooth that I became their F1 team's fan. As I watched more, I felt the beauty of team strategy, pit stop strategy, tire compounds, aerodynamics, the setups required in different 'kinds' of tracks.
I can call myself as formula 1 freak even though my favourite driver retiered last season (2006).
IRL on the other hand concentrates on raw speed. They reach upto 240 miles/hr, unbelieveable one. The tracks are just oval with long straights. People who come to watch this more often come for the fun of competetion and how drivers overtake each other, lots of action..
But this is not always the case of F1 fans. The way the team handles the race is also one of the most important factor a F1 fan looks up during a race.
Anyways, much said, I read interesting debates between the two.
Thought I could share.


What did you watch? Monaco 2k7 or Indy 500?
I did both!!


Dr.Vee's comments about the debate...

Last week

Last week was a terrific one. Maybe one of the best weeks in my life.
It all started on monday morning, when I went to office after my
'isolation' vacation for a week and a half. I was cured completely
and the fact that I can take bath how many ever times a day I want
and eat my favourite foods (veggie for the 1st month) was good.
The moment I entered, no one wished me, and I couldnt see my friends
in their cube as I walked towards mine, only to find they all were
gathered in mine, gave a big 'welcome back' scream, and a cake cutting
ceremony.. I felt awesome.
Then came the wacky wednesday, stressfull day since one of the servers
was experiencing network problems, wrongly diagnosed as a database one
and put on my head, only to get proved by me that it wasnt in my domain.

TOOL concert : one of the best I've been to (ok, I've been to only 4 major
concerts in my life, In flames, Vegas, Blur, and an idiotic band). It
started with some Kingkin guys playing tool like psychedelic guitar
instrumental music for an hour. From dallas, and rocking like this was
awesome, cos rap,hip/hop rules the scene now. Then after a 40 minute
setup wait came the monstors of so called "wise-man's metal".
They started out with my present favourite 'Jambi', riffs that pierced
the hardest of the hearts, and drums that were one of the best.
After some old material from their aenema days, and prison days, came
the awesome schiesm, and lateralus, parabola, wings for mary,
Rosetta stone, and finished with vicarious.
Full 2 hours of continuous music and I did not sit for a second then. It
was one of the best, but the only con was that there were no live cameras
for the band, I couldnt see clearly the faces of Keenan and danny.

Florida : After the concert, and 2 working days came the trip to floridaaaa,Miamiiiii.. Went to west palm beach to meet up 2 friends, one recent and one from my undergrad days, Deva. Total city rounds, and Miami rocked. The place, weather, beaches, water, people, all out of the world. The trip was shortened because of the freaking bad weather we were gifted with.
I read half of the book ' Special topics in calamity physics' by some Marisha Pissl. Her 1st book, landing in top 10 books of 2006 by NY times. The story,as far as I read, was very straightforward and simple, but the way of telling it and the visuals were the ones that made this stand out of the rest. Try it guys, if you are a serious reader, and you'll love it, I promise..

Some things we just can’t change

Have you noticed things we just can’t change? Be it within ourselves or our personal space, like our room, house or something.
I have 2-3 things that I want to change but it’s just like in the movies, wherein fat-free freaks puke when they are fooled in to eat a cheese burger.

One is reaching the office in time in morning. I am asked to be in my office, complete my first report before 8:30, so I have to be in my desk around about quarter past 8. I leave home between 7:35- 7:45, and it takes me 35-45 mins to reach my office. Every time I cross 8:15 and am still driving, the uneasiness that creeps into me is hard to beat.

Another habit is waking up early in weekends, many of my friends make fun of it saying I tend to follow my weekday routine through weekend, no; I probably would wake up even earlier than during weekday. It’s just the feeling of not wasting precious weekend hours to sleep. Almost everyone enjoys sleep to other things, but I prefer to read novels, or just browse, and read blogs online, e-papers, or learn about my favorites like F1 cars, or airplanes or simply, travel destinations. These are habits that I cant change.
What do you have that you cant change?

Back to the pavilion

This was what happened to me last week when I set foot on Dallas last Tuesday. After ‘aatam pottufying ‘(playing) in my hometown for 15 days, was back to America, to continue pursuing my dream, whatever it is!! The whole trip was, simply put, awesome.
1st week, spent entirely doing what I used to during my undergrad days, monthly holidays. Morning walks, market trips, interior changes, carom games, movies, talking about politics, general work or anything with parents. One additional thing this time around was playing with my nephew. What a boy he is? Just 18 months old, recognizes each person(thatha- grand dad, my father, mama- uncle , me, paati-grand mother). When he sees me, he will call mama continuously until I go and lift him. He sat on my lap when I drove my car around the city and will not get out from the car unless I pull him. I will post some of his pics later, but the cutest guy was also my greatest fun during the trip. Even today, he shouts my name in cell phone when I call my sister.
The 1st Saturday of my Indian trip was an awesome day, went to Chennai, met some of my old buddies after years together, and had a helluva party at GRT grandays, the only word coming out of my group towards the food servers was ‘Repeat!!!’. (my friends know what I am talking about ;-) )
The 2nd week was one of the most stressful and most enjoying weeks ever in my life, the sashtyathaboorthy function (60th b-day celebration) of my father. It was on 26th, jan. 3 days with 4 hr sleep, else spent on organizing and inviting ppl. The function itself was a great one, I partook in all activities, from arranging stuff, to saapadu parimaaral(serving food to guests). I was in a state of breaking down, when another set of friends came from coimbatore to attend this, and we all went out, lunch, and guru film, then showing them my father’s farmhouse, dinner at my home and they left.
With one day left between that and me leaving India, I decided not to sleep, watching tamil programs in TV. Then came the d-day and I left India. I couldn’t feel correctly according to the situation in hand, since everything was happening faster than speed of light, India trip, function, back. Only when I went to my transit hotel room in Muscat and started to think about the whole trip, did I become SAD!!