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I unwind here!

[justmigrate]

Hi,

I just moved my posts from Posterous! Do go though my blog for all the new posts.

Its easy to migrate try JustMigrate

3Crumbs app - Are you the local thrifter we all have been looking for? 

[bibsin-blog]

Frozen Clicks - A Photo Project

I’m not a greedy blogger but a rather reluctant one. Though I say that, I’m a bit hesitant to count the number of blogs I do. Every time I created a blog with a specific intention and it so happened, in the long run, that I was either lazy to update it or I just feared encountering writer's block. Sometimes things were too private - at least I considered them to be, which again prevented my blogging. Inactivity continued…

‘My Phoneographs’ was a good start at photoblogging particularly, because it only involved shots from my mobile - not much processing, not much delay. I could do it easily with a little bit of description. After acquiring the 550D, I wanted another page to showcase the new ones in hi-def. So it's working fine until now - Viewpoint. But then, I wasn’t updating Flickr for years! What? That question I put to myself was a bit more than serious. How would someone forget an ocean like Flickr? That's where we all started to swim and now we all swim in our individual pools, ponds, and lakes, and to get a bit of recognition it is necessary you swim in that ocean and look at others' swim. Else you'll definitely feel like those frogs in the well - yes, the same story, but you won't realize it until you're once out of the well. But if you're unwilling to get out of your space in the well and look at others, then it isn't a problem at all and you should forever be happy just looking at yourself and where you are.

So it was time, although late, to connect my Canon to Flickr. Enjoyed it for a while until boredom surrounded again. In the meanwhile, I teamed up with Jishin to start ‘J&B Photography,’ a photo page on Facebook. So this was the order in which photos got posted - the photos I post on 'J&B Photography' immediately got posted to my ‘Viewpoint.’ It may or may not enter the Flickr stream depending on what I think after having uploaded/viewed it (on full screen) there. With the introduction of 500px, I started refining and filtering pics from last year to put on the stream there. A few pics, I thought, were exclusively meant for 500px. It's going good, but I’m only looking at the finest ones and ignoring the rest (finest here doesn't really mean satisfactory). It’s been long they met some light, v.long. I've had the opportunity to use a variety of cameras in the past, right from school - from generous friends. It's because of their generosity or their willingness to share whatever they had that has made me hold the cam steadfast years later. I should be writing more about the cams and even more about my friends, but that's not what I should be doing now (I always cherish the best in my mind). So that’s a large number of cams, including film and digital. My external hard disc that was dedicated to the movies is now filled with RAWs (CR2s and DNGs) and JPEGs. Now, the RAWs are not more than 1-year-old, but what about the older ones I was talking about. I should find a place to open them up and shed some candlelight if not sunlight.

So now, in short, it has come to this - Frozen Clicks on tumblr. I know within a short time I’ll develop a feeling of this as a travel-based photo blog and may even decide not to post photographs of animals and food there. I’d also then think of commencing a page exclusively for the animals and insects. Believe me, I already have one for the food and yum-yum :-) So on Frozen Clicks, just as the description says, there are no rules and no categories, no sets or subsets like phoneographs, Canons, Nikons, or Sonys. It will have anything from street to fashion and elephants to spiders or anything. It'll have textured ones, HDRs, and also SOOC shots. It'll proudly display anything I’m embarrassed to post elsewhere on the web.

This will be my first photo project of the year that will serve its purpose - relieve pressure off my hard disc. This will also be my first active page on tumblr, where I shall post directly, whereas my other tumblr pages are auto-post sites, at least until now. It'll be interesting if I found you there too on Frozen Clicks.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Originally posted on Posterous.

7 months ago J responded:

Nice post and inspiring for me as well. You have addressed a problem I am also facing. In fact, I think I should also write about it in my blog. I like the concept of Frozen Clicks, where we can post pics without fear or reservations. Hope U won't mind when I copy this concept.

7 months ago Bibin Kumar responded:

Thanks a lot man. I'm happy if I've supplied the inspiration for doing something like that. And I won't mind because you aren't actually copying but instead, like u initially said, this has only inspired you to do so. As u know, inspiration and imitation are entirely different.

So just start it..

[bibsin-blog]

Frozen Clicks - A Photo Project

I’m not a greedy blogger but a rather reluctant one. Though I say that, I’m a bit hesitant to count the number of blogs I do. Every time I created a blog with a specific intention and it so happened, in the long run, that I was either lazy to update it or I just feared encountering writer's block. Sometimes things were too private - at least I considered them to be, which again prevented my blogging. Inactivity continued…

‘My Phoneographs’ was a good start at photoblogging particularly, because it only involved shots from my mobile - not much processing, not much delay. I could do it easily with a little bit of description. After acquiring the 550D, I wanted another page to showcase the new ones in hi-def. So it's working fine until now - Viewpoint. But then, I wasn’t updating Flickr for years! What? That question I put to myself was a bit more than serious. How would someone forget an ocean like Flickr? That's where we all started to swim and now we all swim in our individual pools, ponds, and lakes, and to get a bit of recognition it is necessary you swim in that ocean and look at others' swim. Else you'll definitely feel like those frogs in the well - yes, the same story, but you won't realize it until you're once out of the well. But if you're unwilling to get out of your space in the well and look at others, then it isn't a problem at all and you should forever be happy just looking at yourself and where you are.

So it was time, although late, to connect my Canon to Flickr. Enjoyed it for a while until boredom surrounded again. In the meanwhile, I teamed up with Jishin to start ‘J&B Photography,’ a photo page on Facebook. So this was the order in which photos got posted - the photos I post on 'J&B Photography' immediately got posted to my ‘Viewpoint.’ It may or may not enter the Flickr stream depending on what I think after having uploaded/viewed it (on full screen) there. With the introduction of 500px, I started refining and filtering pics from last year to put on the stream there. A few pics, I thought, were exclusively meant for 500px. It's going good, but I’m only looking at the finest ones and ignoring the rest (finest here doesn't really mean satisfactory). It’s been long they met some light, v.long. I've had the opportunity to use a variety of cameras in the past, right from school - from generous friends. It's because of their generosity or their willingness to share whatever they had that has made me hold the cam steadfast years later. I should be writing more about the cams and even more about my friends, but that's not what I should be doing now (I always cherish the best in my mind). So that’s a large number of cams, including film and digital. My external hard disc that was dedicated to the movies is now filled with RAWs (CR2s and DNGs) and JPEGs. Now, the RAWs are not more than 1-year-old, but what about the older ones I was talking about. I should find a place to open them up and shed some candlelight if not sunlight.

So now, in short, it has come to this - Frozen Clicks on tumblr. I know within a short time I’ll develop a feeling of this as a travel-based photo blog and may even decide not to post photographs of animals and food there. I’d also then think of commencing a page exclusively for the animals and insects. Believe me, I already have one for the food and yum-yum :-) So on Frozen Clicks, just as the description says, there are no rules and no categories, no sets or subsets like phoneographs, Canons, Nikons, or Sonys. It will have anything from street to fashion and elephants to spiders or anything. It'll have textured ones, HDRs, and also SOOC shots. It'll proudly display anything I’m embarrassed to post elsewhere on the web.

This will be my first photo project of the year that will serve its purpose - relieve pressure off my hard disc. This will also be my first active page on tumblr, where I shall post directly, whereas my other tumblr pages are auto-post sites, at least until now. It'll be interesting if I found you there too on Frozen Clicks.

[bibsin-blog]

Read the wrinkles

Amidst sorrows, he has something good to tell me everytime I meet him. He offers me his chair, I never accept. So he sits to chat & I stand to hear, and once he posed. He didn't smile, I didn't ask him to. The wrinkles are his story & his eyes, glory!

So now you can know how bad I'm at portraying people. I got a few more shots of him, but not this way in closeup. Somehow I loved this and I wanted to post this under 'People & Emotions' category on our photo page on facebook, and that finally happened today. But I wasn't a bit convinced about this pic going to my Viewpoint page, which was entirely meant for photos. Maybe because I wanted to write this story. I also don't want to lengthen it.

In pic: Raasa, age 81

[bibsin-blog]

Update - ver. 2012.01.27 (Cinema, Hotel, Market)

I had set out to watch Nanban in the evening. It's been more than two weeks since the movie released and I haven't caught a Shankar movie yet. Was ready by 5:45 p.m., and since it was Friday, the roads were lined with college buses and filled with students and all good people going home for the weekend, which lengthened a 10-min journey to nearly a 30-min one. From Vadasery, I took the route through the market and when I had another 2-min walk left to get to the theater, it was 6:32 p.m. I didn't put a step further on that route and just started walking backwards. I thought - to walk, get a ticket, get seated, it's going to take another 5 to 7 minutes and if the show had started on time, I already missed some. Maybe it was only ad-time by then and chances are that the movie still hasn't started playing. But I didn't want to take a chance. I'll make it another day! I'm going to watch it only once in the cinemas and so missing a minute of it really matters particularly for a Shankar flick. Years ago, I watched a movie multiple times simply because I had nothing else to do. Ticket prices are just too hot, you see, it burns :-)

6:45 p.m. - Cinema

Walked aimlessly putting my head down; now there's a whole evening left and none with me. Before further plans could strike me, I reached another cinema hall, which is actually closer to the place where I got down from the bus. It played a Chinese movie, 'The Sorcerer and the White Snake' dubbed to Tamil, named 'Bodhidharman.' I never wanted to watch it, but I also couldn't think beyond because I found people walking hurriedly into the theater and getting their tickets. The movie released just yesterday and maybe results by word of mouth have marked it good, I thought. I too walked in, got a ticket, not suprised that ticket price for a dubbed movie is no lesser than a direct Tamil movie. There is nothing else left but to watch this one to spend the evening. I went in, the movie hasn't begun, however, by 6:45 p.m. Then jewellery ads for 15 mins - almost every popular jeweller in South India had their share of exhibiting Gold, in their way, with models & stars. Well, it's a pleasure to watch these ads on widescreen with amazing photography, glittering graphic techniques, and melodic background tunes. Another understanding: This is why our movies don't glitter - they are lengthy. Keep them short, they'll shine. 

The movie through my tweets:

The Sorcerer & the WhiteSnake/Bodhidharman: More of fantasy than action. Blend of a lot; fantasy,romance,culture, snakes; total graphic play

— Bibin Kumar (@bibinkumar) January 27, 2012

The Sorcerer & the White Snake / Bodhidharman: Never expect some Jet Li-action, you'll cry over the money u lost. #TimePass[R: 4/10]

— Bibin Kumar (@bibinkumar) January 27, 2012

8:40 p.m. - Hotel Gowri Shankar (Vadasery)

I used to come here very often with Ranjith, but that's a long time ago. Haven't been here in years. That's the reason why I just got in here. It's one of the oldest Gowri Shankar pure vegetarian franchise. In the period between 1996 and 2000, we came here regularly after watching a movie. There's no change in the menu and my order always remained the same except the kind of dosa - masala, rava, onion, and others. This time, I want to nourish my dream with that starter rasa vadai and finally coffee in a dabarah. The coffee has gone up to Rs. 12. *in shock!* But you can pay for the taste - it remains the same - taken back in time by a surplus 12 to 16 years. Only the person who served it has changed. They have the same arrangement of tables/chairs/mirrors - the same way, nothing modern except the wash tap. Most people who come from other districts particulalry Thirunelveli, who step down at this bus stand would come here for lunch, coffee, or an early morning breakfast. There are a lot of other new restaurants nearby now, but it's good to see this old-fashioned one still crowded.

9:00 p.m. - Market

Now, instead of taking the direct route to the bus stand, I took the market route (Vadasery Vegetable Market) with many gates; one road from within the market leads you directly to the bus stand. Shops have started closing down - it's five minutes past nine. There wasn't much of a crowd. (Usually, when my mom asks me to accompany her to the market, I simply yell at her, but many times I have walked through these roads and the crowd just to get a feel of the freshness of their substance in the air. Anything green, you get it here!)

Just as I walked along, some fruit vendors started inviting me to their shops calling out rates of fruits. It isn't unusual there. I kept walking: The fuits section ends here, and there I can see buses. I simply stopped by the last shop and asked for seedless green grapes. I was doing something unusual, but felt I should do it. Bought half a kilo of grapes for Rs. 30 - I didn't know if it was fair price, bad price, and I didn't even try to bargain. After packing, he asked me if I needed sapotas as that they cost only Rs. 10 per kg. I was taken by surprise. I didn't know that there was something available in the market for 10 rupees or less per kilogram. I asked him to weigh half a kilo. He didn't even care to listen, he weighed them for a kilo. I said half was largely enough and that it was not a matter of money but there was no one at home now and I didn't want to waste it. He said, "that's the same here, we too don't have anyone to buy all these, take a kilo.." and then smiled. I smiled widely. I started feeling so happy like I have bought the best thing available in the market for Rs.10, that weighed a kilo and was heavy too. It may be simply because I haven't been to markets regularly buying stuff and that this often happened in markets when things came in surplus. But the fact that this day turned out to be so good that the best 10-rupees I spent for the day was for a fruit and that now I'm going to be healthy and happy eating sappotas made me more happy.

I came home with a bag full of things with no one to hand it over. Before I could get them arranged in the fridge, I rang mom, "You know, now I know how to shop at the vegetable market; I bought my fav fruit for Rs. 10, and I got enough items filled in the refrigerator for the next one week. You better stay there. I know to live! :-D" Mom laughed the wildest laugh ever through a phone.

**Did she mock me now? I'm not going to worry. Its been a Great DAY** :-)

[bibsin-blog]

50/50 (2011) - Quick Thoughts [Instant Review]

Just watched 50/50. Brilliant! I know this rather should have been an instant tweet, but felt like I wanted to write more - not to the extent of a review, and so came here. Some movies do some talking to the mind and this is one of them.

There are a lot of moments I liked in the movie and particularly liked Gordon-Levitt to the core. I started liking him from 'Inception,' but this one really makes you love him even if you aren't a girl. [Spoiler] It seems that I'm liking most movies relating to the cancer cells - The Bucket List, 180 (Tamil), and now 50/50. I really doubt my body's affinity towards those cells; maybe the kind of living I adopt does the liking. But while 'The Bucket List' is about fulfilling the wish list of two middle-aged men and '180' about withdrawal of a young man, who himself is a doctor, from love and relationship and making his own happy days, 50/50 begins with the dark part itself (revealing of the cancer) within the 9th to 10th minute. So what can it deal with next? I thought it would be sort of 180 blending with The Bucket List because I thought it couldn't deviate from the conclusion at least. It has the usual suffering, split relations, therapy, and finally it all depends on the person who is suffering. As for 'Adam,' the character played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, he is cool as winter and sincere to everyone he loves. From the point where he knows of the Neurofibrosarcoma schwannoma to the day he undergoes surgery, his expressions are subtle but amazing. It is not just with his head-shaven looks, but the gloom to his face and his eyes becomes part of him when he's gradually progressing towards depression, like I realize it. Some friends in the movies are unforgetable to forget; Seth Rogen is one of them, a perfect partner at all times. The 'Up in the Air' girl Anna Kendrick is awesome as usual with shiny teeth and a lovable character. Music - just what is needed is what is produced - it blends with every scene. Its a movie that combines tragic elements with the comical ones and still funny all way through until when you really feel the pain through Adam.

Would I recommend this movie to you? Yes

Verdict: Its a simply fine movie that is good to watch. It has become a personal favorite of mine and definitely one of the best movies of the year. Watch it for what it offers from Dir. Jonathan Levine through Inception's point man, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Rating: 8.5/10

[bibsin-blog]

Favorite tweets of 2011

I'm trying the newly launched embeddable tweets feature on Posterous. What instantly came to mind was to embed my movie tweets (micro reviews) into a post that'll easily be readable, also giving me a list of movies I've watched in 2011. When thats getting edited and embedded, I thought it'd be more interesting and useful to embed some tweets I've favorited during 2011. Some are thoughtful, some funny, and some simply because I liked them.

This was going to be my wedding day, but life is full of surprises. After all is said & done, staying single is probably for the best.

— Hugh Hefner (@hughhefner) June 18, 2011

"When u can think of yesterday without regret and tomorrow without fear, you are near contentment"

— sangeeth sivan (@sangeethsivan) November 6, 2011

Today (Oct 31) Tamil talkies completes 80 years of talkies. Same day, 80 years back Kalidas, the 1st Tamil talkie was released .

— Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) October 31, 2011

More things are misplaced in the zeal to organize and keep a home neat than if they were simply left lying around

— Ashok (@krishashok) July 19, 2011

உயர்ந்தவர்கள் நம்மைத் தேடி வந்தால் 7 அடிகள் முன்னே சென்று வரவேற்கணுமாம்,அவர்கள் செல்லும்போது 7 அடிகள் பின்னே சென்று வழிவிடணுமாம்.மரியாதை!

— என். சொக்கன் (@nchokkan) December 14, 2011

Whoah!! RT @vatsala: another is a usage - "cut and right a solren" whose origins are "curt and dry" in english

— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) November 13, 2011

“It is better to be admired than to be popular. Strive to better yourself; not to please others.” Nice quote to end the day

— Dhananjayan Govind (@Dhananjayang) September 18, 2011

Am told that one's fav films say a lot abt u. My recent favs: Up in the Air, RevolutionaryRoad, Somewhere, Lost in Translation, A Single Man

— Rajeev Masand (@RajeevMasand) December 7, 2011

It must be a bluemoon night. Three good films in one week! When did that last happen?

— Sudhish Kamath (@SudhishKamath) April 29, 2011

Saw Zindagi naa milegi dubaara, realized 90 percent of us arnt living, jst surviving. Salute to d remaining 10 percent. Happy fr em :)

— taapsee pannu (@taapsee) July 15, 2011

With 2 out of 3 ppl sick at home I'm indoors playing nurse. Its funny how d strangest of things brings u closer to ur family! Happy 2 serve

— Priya Anand (@PriyaWajAnand) July 16, 2011

Packing Material கண்ணாடி முட்டைகளை டப்டப்ன்னு உடைக்கும் பழக்கம் உண்டா? எனக்குண்டு. அதற்கு ஓர் iPhone App இருப்பது கண்டு திகைத்தேன்! #fb

— என். சொக்கன் (@nchokkan) June 18, 2011

Lovable ones:

"Never marry someone who doesn't love the movies you love. Sooner or later, that person will not love you." (Roger Ebert)

— Roger Ebert (@ebertchicago) August 29, 2011

If I hadnt spent all my money on making films, I could've bought a Merc. Wouldnt have been as satisfying. I can take more people on my film.

— Sudhish Kamath (@SudhishKamath) August 7, 2011

Finally, something especially for me :-)

“ Experience is a comb which nature gives to men when they are bald. -Chinese Proverbs”. Great one

— Dhananjayan Govind (@Dhananjayang) November 4, 2011

[bibsin-blog]

Steve Jobs, Apple, & I

I haven't seen Steve Jobs in the movies nor have I earned an iPhone or an iPad yet; maybe, I would someday. But this day is wanting me to get one. It was not entirely that price factor prevented me from getting an iProduct, but I didn't want to be an Apple freak! Secondly, this Apple of Jobs' was unreachable for a person like me - costly and up too high in the tree. So most times, rather than looking up at the tree for an apple, I took a bite off my friends' Apple, which was readily available at hand. Remember, they were freaks too. So I never wished to lose money on the costliest apple. And so I was buying Apple equivalents and then I stopped saying they were equivalents - only an Apple can be an apple.

Today, the world seems a bit dark outside - suddenly saddened because Jobs is no more. Tweets pouring in, industrial giants showing their condolences, TVs flashing news, and Wikipedia already updated Jobs' page. I'm feeling a pain that I'm unable to express. I haven't loved this man as Apple fans do, I haven't largely watched him on stage when he unveiled a new product, except once. But it so happened that I watched Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Speech in 2005 during last year that gave me an insight into how he done all these when fighting for his life. I heard something in Jobs' speech that was a preexisting thought in my mind. Maybe many others shared the same view.

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose."

-Steve Jobs

I loved this man for what he has given this world to play with, speak with, hear with, and now to think of him forever for the way he looked at life and at technology. If I thought I would regret someday for not having an iProduct, it is today.

  [This post was published privately 3 days ago and now made public on October 9, 2011. Image Courtesy: Apple Inc.]

[bibsin-blog]

One year @Posterous - Pleasure

May 18, 2010 - Joined Posterous, thereby moving away from Blogger, not because I didn't like Blogger (my maiden page was there), but I felt it was lacking emotions and stood still with a straight face for anything I did :-|  Or maybe I drew and maintained a boundary line within it and so the inexpressiveness. As I'm completing a year today at Posterous, I felt the urge to write something and thereby also make it a post to thank Posterous and my friend Jishin. I'm unwilling to avoid the cliche I don't believe it, its been a year ;-)

Over the last year, there were 33 posts published on my main page. Later, I have commenced two other pages: My Foto Page and The Poster Junkie. Though The Poster Junkie has remained inactive for quite a long time, the no. of views per poster still remains higher than any individual post on my home page. I'm unsure as to how this happens. Are people really interested in posters like me? If only Posterous could display the source of traffic and no. of views per day in exact or at least in approximate, I'd be happy like others to know it. Simple!

This is not a post to describe a group of posts, but its good writing this because I wanted to say that I never expected to be a blogger; its accidental, like it happened to anyone else. Over the past few years, I've been reading a lot of online journals, movie pages, scribbles, photo blogs, mobile blogs, and travelogues, all of which were informative in some way. The blogger may have either blogged for his satisfaction or catered his subscribers with some content that is expected off him, which might be relief or release in any case. I've lately known that blogging is a profession for a larger group of people in the blogging arena, which means they're actually making money out of it. Just because I'm not a professional blogger and hesitant to be one, I can't say that I shall try to increase the no. of posts in the coming year, provide you with information on stuff, or at least paste glamorous pics on the page so as to invite readers or increase the no. of viewers. I'm even unsure if I would try to maintain this level of activity on my page during the rest of the year. But truth in the form of a question is who really cares? Who really wants me to write? or Who really asked me to? Particularly when I'm not a writer, it is not expected of me. But to share something or everything is a special feeling and the happiest moment comes when someone reads it and appreciates or otherwise calls it sheer crap.

Though I started writing blogs for my own pleasure (wrote them, hid them, unrevealed the URL to anyone, and read them when I'm alone & bored), now it has gradually progressed to a space where I'm right now - largely exposed. It makes me happy because I am recording something on the web. This will have some relation to 'Opening Diary 2011.' The deviation from writing a diary to writing blogs and then my passion for the movies oozing out as movie reviews, it has been a long way though unplanned. I'm still reviewing movies amateurishly; it isn't getting any better *sad*, though I still do it. Within the last six months, there was something else I created - an account at HubPages. What else do you expect - create an app for the iPhone? So HubPages is helping me post movie reviews on their site. HubPages has categories and subcategories for posting content and so any viewer who's browsing through a particular category most probably must be looking into yours, and some important feature there is that they have live statistical updates for showing no. of views per day, week, month including the source of traffic. Only my movie reviews get posted there (manually). This isn't praising HubPages on Posterous but only talking of a new wing that I got! *fearing the curse of Posterous*

Finally, theres something that I missed to say about Posterous, which I should have mentioned in the beginning, and so now making it the title.

[bibsin-blog]

KO - Truly Entertaining Summer Pack

Director K.V. Anand must be one among the very few directors who seem to have realized one's own potential as is evident from his first movie to now his third, Ko. When I watched 'Ayan' in 2009, his second movie, I thought this man was capable of making a movie with real elements into a blend that could produce an entirely commercial movie and yet also make it a huge success. I also thought that he had the ability to produce a star or sometimes even heighten the stature of an already established star. So K.V. Anand must be: A man who probably would've started running on the tracks looking at Dir. Shankar who's been running on an unparallel road, of course. A man proving his ability in the department he's well knowledgeable of - cinematography. A man having a team that is capable of producing scenes and frames that he desires or rather dreams of.

So I was already prepared to enjoy 'Ko' like an 'Ayan' I had experienced in Satyam two years ago. Maybe I won't be able to feel the magic of Satyam this time because I am only going to watch it in a cinema here in my place, but still one of the best in town. Is Anand going to let me down like the other directors who have left me largely with an empty mind and an angry face like in the past for the movies I've eagerly awaited? But it seems now that this director doesn't let anyone down, the audience and his producer. Yes, again!

Ko (2011)

What does 'Ko' mean?

 Ko means 'Arasan' in Tamil and 'King' in English. According to some information from sources earlier, this movie was to be titled with an apt Tamil noun equivalent of 'Kingmaker,' which would've been fair to the subject is what I too thought, but couldn't because they were unable to get one such good word. Now that doesn't sound pleasing if we really don't have one such word.

This time too, I'm not revealing the plot of this movie as I wouldn't do for any other movie.

What does Ko deal with?

Journalism - the power of photojournalism in particular, the usual nasty politicians, a few good friends, dynamic co-workers, the youth of a state fighting for change, and a naxal link. If you can change the future of a nation with a pen, I think you can also change it really quickly with a camera - the reason why I mostly liked this movie. Its not because theres a camera throughout the movie and I love the one Jeeva holds around all the time, but showing the risks involved in doing a job that is more riskier than the job itself is commendable. When the lens of your camera has the power to decide the next chief minister of a state, backed by the ability of smart-thinking brains, that is what is Ko.

 The Cast

 Jeeva just fits in perfectly, not overplayed though. Just another actor becomes a star in Tamil Cinema. I could already see flex boards and posters of his fan clubs at the theatre premises.

 Ajmal wouldn't have had a much better movie to showcase his talent after 'Anjaathe.' His behavior, speech, and even his well-built body and costumes play it for him.

Karthika, like anyone, would have dreamt of success in an entry movie, but never like what she must be experiencing now. There must be a good spot for her in the industry and Tamil Cinema in particular, if she has the ability to improve her skills.

Pia Bajpai, someone I must love for choosing the character she played. From the girl who started her career looking like there-was-a-pot-of-noodles-boiling-over-her-head-and-spilling-out to the way she blows the minds of everyone watching her is just amazing. Just makes you want more of those funny scenes and she also induces pity when you no longer get to see her.

While Prakash Raj plays CM, it is Kota Srinivasa Rao playing the leader of opposition. Its such a pleasure to have Kota Srinivasa Rao back in a Tamil movie.

Cinematography and Music

K.V. Anand, being a cinematographer himself, has not handled the camera for this movie. Maybe he wanted his time to be spent fully on directing and developing the script, the camera was handed over to Richard M. Nathan. The job done well by Richard!

Harris Jayaraj's songs for this movie are already chartbusters and when it comes to K.V. Anand, he has it more special. Melodies, a speed number, and a club song all sets you into the mood, and the opening number at the pub recreates the same mood of the Ayan club number with special appearance of the popular stars dancing/turning up during its play.

Editing

Anthony Gonsalves is the man who deserves everything off this movie after the director. It is editing that has made this movie so riveting. The pace of the movie is simply amazing and thats the reason why it has become such a success and keeps it reigning at the box office. If people are watching it more than once, its solely because of its appropriate cuts. I wish this man always does the cuts for a Rajini movie.

The Negatives

Just like Ayan, which would have made you feel that some scenes and even parts of the script were ripped from some of the popular movies, Ko also many times gives you the same feeling. For instance, the youth getting into politics, going on rounds throughout the state etc. reminds you of 'Aayutha Ezhuthu.' I wonder if even the same place (the dry land with a solo tree) was the spot chosen here too. A dialogue between Pia and Karthika reminds you of Urmila Matondkar in 'Indian' giving a word of praise about the hero to his mother, Sukanya. There are even other scenes between Pia and Karthika together with Jeeva likely to remind you of some movies of the past. But truth is that you're not going to mind it at all.

What I really didn't like was the timing of a song that was thrust immediately after Pia's tragedy. I couldn't stop showing the sorrow even after the song arrived ;-). Again, the director acts fast, the mark of a true entertainer must be.

Verdict

Ko is the best summer package of the year, at least as of now. It has every essential substance any cinema-goer would like to have in a movie in the entertainment category. This is absolutley entertaining and riveting without any likely chance of boredom because even after a heavy lunch and watching a matinee, Ko didn't make me yawn once. Should I mention I haven't even slept the previous night?

I enjoyed the movie, which means I enjoyed the way it was played on screen with a fast-paced moving of scenes, the songs, background score, choreography, action sequences, the final shootout between the police and Naxals, and the performance by actors who played their part to fine perfection. I also loved the movie for its amazing show of tech-related habits happening naturally and not put into focus or accentuated, like Jeeva pulling out the memory card when the camera is sure to be taken off, transmission of images immediately through a Reliance NetConnect data card in a forest, the use of mobile camera and 3G to live stream video from where the Naxals were holed up, etc.

Trivia

This movie is Jeeva's biggest release ever. Looking at the way the movie is received by the audience, Jeeva is delaying the release of his forthcoming movie and also considering a re-shoot for some sequences. The news was from a film mag. Ko also becomes the highest collecting movie of the year, until April, just within 4 days after its release.

In the Cinema Hall

The sound of claps in the opening titles when photos of Sachin and Dhoni were shown were louder than that when a drawing of Rajini was shown. Though it did make me sad for a moment, I knew even Rajini clapped for Sachin and Dhoni when they won the World Cup :-)

Rating

7/10

I told a few people that this was the right time to watch this movie, maybe just immediately after the elections. But then I realized and felt sorry for having said that because this movie should have been released before the polls in TN. Leaving aside the chances of impact it would have made on the voters, the movie almost had the truth in it (cash and liquor for votes, an opposition leader who decides anything by astrology, a minister beating up someone with a footwear, and so on). By now, anyone of you who have seen the movie would know why this movie was delayed and released after the elections. And you know who the distributor is.

[bibsin-blog]

2 in 1 - Micro-Review

Now, this is where it ends up when not writing regularly about the movies. There's been a gradual decrease in the number of movies that've been watched. I've started a post multiple times and then failed to complete it. Its not necessary that I need to be writing a complete lengthy review of every movie always, because, though I need to meet the standards of a professional, I'm not a 'professional critic' is what I thought. So, I casually write a micro-review post here, which may or may not incite the reader to watch the movie. The reason why someone writes up a review is also the same: the critic wants you to watch it or trash it. When I'm delaying a review and giving late but lengthy reviews, the movie has already left even B centers. So here I go!

Payanam (Tamil - 2011)

This comes from the team of Prakash Raj and Dir. Radha Mohan. Being someone who has successfully handled family subjects at ease, director Radha Mohan this time attempts something unusual - a hijack of a passenger aircraft. As I tweeted earlier, this movie didn't leave any impression on me. Well I can't compare this movie to any hollywood hijack flick. Anyone can argue that all hijacks needn't be the same!  True. But I don't understand what director Radha Mohan thinks when its a hijack. He has a man showing off mimicry talents to a kid, a guy (who later seems to be a doctor) getting into sort of a romance with a co-passenger, a priest who does prayers, a movie superstar and his fan who are seated in adjacent seats and apparently the fan wanting his superstar to be in action with the hijackers, and people of other sorts. All these funny stuff make you laugh for sure at that particular point in time. But were most things relevant at all? To keep it more simple, the final 20 mins or so was the best part in the movie compared to what all had happened until then. It gave me the feeling of watching a stage drama; character portrayal and highlighting was what was done more. You get details of almost everyone in the flight and you come to know of their character through their behavior, but whats the need for everyone's name being typed on screen? They didn't sing a 'Jai Ho' or 'Vande Mataram' to show some unity-in-diversity kind of a thing and thats what I was happy about at the end. Radha Mohan must have forgotten this time that he's not handling a bunch of kids but terrorists. And when are you people going to stop portraying every terrorist as a Pakistani?!

Rating: 4/10

Verdict: An entirely new attempt by Radha Mohan in Tamil Cinema doesn't make it a good movie. Everything looks silly. Radha Mohan could try hijacking a bus next time, (sorry) but not again!  If you're childish enough to take a hijack this way, you can watch it.

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Makeup Man (Malayalam - 2011)

This Shafi-directed Malayalam comedy flick, which is a family entertainer, is already a hit in Kerala. There is nothing too serious to write or talk about it. If there isn't a genre named 'Jayaram' already, they'll have to make one and get this one into it. For any Jayaram fan, this will be pleasing and lovable because it has all (essential?) ingredients that (all) his films commonly have. The movie also has Kunchacko Boban and Prithviraj in a cameo. Music by Vidyasagar is soothing in the form of 'Aaru Tharum' song.

Rating: 5/10

Verdict: Although most part of it is predictable, the director has maintained a steady pace with comic and essential family substance that you don't feel bored. A good timepass movie.

[bibsin-blog]

An Update in the Interval

Its been a long time since I wrote something here. I really have been trying to balance activities of life in a week, almost trying to equalize the amount of activity on weekdays with amount of enthusiasm during weekends. Its impossible because 5 working days don't equate with 2 days of fun even if enjoyed to the fullest without sleep. But I have been doing my best to do this for nearly the last two months or so. To the kind of guy I am, I have been successful. So the schedule itself has simply made me not blog - its 2 months and 9 days since my last post. This has been the longest interval so far on my page on Posterous. Din't want to let someone think the page is dormant, though it is, for sometime.

Capture or Enjoy?

I have often thought about this kind of a situation even when I was younger - I'm holding a camera to shoot something so special and I see a man being burnt alive on the road. Would I shoot that man's burning image or run towards him to save his life. The humanitarian in me would go to save him, but I can also do both - shoot an image and save him. But would a humanitarian really click an image? Now this applies to your most joyous moments too. I have been capturing images of some of the most amazing moments of enjoyment with my friends over years. What I truly felt was the enjoyment in photographing the scene, which I think is my passion. But what I truly have been missing was the enjoyment itself. Well, enjoyment takes its form depending on the person. Still, the liveliness in the mood within the particular atmosphere, I wasn't able to enjoy! Photographing was not merely the cause, but the introvert in me must have prevented me from enjoying. This feeling has almost changed direction to reverse from when realization started. When days go by, we're likely to realize every process of our life and its purpose without being taught upon.

So, the U-turn seems to be working well. I'm rather enjoying the moment than clicking a shot or writing about it. The best comes out of your mind when you're back home, from where you can relive and write about the moments that you've experienced. But the failure of the process is due to my inability to script down points before the next weekend.

Confusion/Correction

This is relating to my post dated Dec 30 titled Man Madan Ambu (2010), where I had written "...kudos to Trisha for dubbing in her own voice." In the previous paragraph, I had mentioned that the movie used spot recording or the live recording technique, in which case Trisha wouldn't have dubbed unless necessary. I found that in exact opposition upon reading later, but anyone who had read that hadn't pointed it out either. If you thought the whole post itself was a blunder instead of the aforementioned sentence alone, I'm smashed again! ;-) But if they had used looping or ADR in the movie, then I win again because she'd have probably dubbed.

Unpublished posts

There are still some unpublished posts on my dashboard and some unfinished ones too. The good thing is that none is untitled and its only unpublished.

Thanks Clementine

I got this from Clementine's page on posterous, which had a pic of an old man on a motorbike and beside were these lines:

Work hard and

save all your money

So when you're old

You can afford things

that only young people

Enjoy.

[bibsin-blog]

Opening 'Diary 2011'

This year's new diary came as a gift from my mom. It was a pretty large one, 11" x 8.5", which she gifted me along with a wall calendar two days before New Year's Day, which made me excited particularly because I had not received one from her in the past few years. I had not received even a complimentary edition from any commercial establishments last year and I was not much bothered about getting a diary over the past few years because I thought I already had lost habit of writing a diary regularly. It was not because life in the metropolis was moving about a bit faster with me in it than while I was here in my hometown, but it was because I thought life has enough elements in it to be recorded every moment, where I totally was unable to imagine about a start point and when and where I should make a pause or a complete stop.

Imagine spending an entire day over the diary recording life that passed by the previous day!! And I can't say 'recording' either, because the past day is past and I can be writing only fragments of incidents or forming mental imagery of what I've visualized the previous day. Its endless! Sometimes I have had this strange thought of having a camcorder that is fit atop my head (by default), which people are unable to visualize and something which even I wouldn't give a thought as to something is over my head spinning around. The absurdity in it is that the process itself is going to reduce your time on earth! To get the recorded tape of a particular day of your life and play it on is going to take you an entire day. The time spent on watching it equals the duration of the tape. So if you lived 30 years with the cam on, and if you want to see the way you lived the last three decades, then you're going to be 60 when you complete watching it. Then you won't feel the need to make any corrections or want to change your pattern of life at that point. Even if not for corrections and a better living, the simplest form of just looking back at memories of 'a minute' to enjoy and relive the moments itself is going to take you the same time, (here) one minute.

Now, I'm reversing with this thought in time and just imagining if this process would have flashed the mind of the inventor of the diary centuries ago (don't know who invented it and when) and maybe that made him give us such a thing to just jot down incidents without too many complications. I know thats strange for him to have had such a thought, but I cannot rule out that possibility except that he wouldn't have had thought of a cam but something else that keeps him on track, records his life and its moments, and makes him regain happiness when going through it at a later time. That ultimately is the goal of a diary of what I am talking, rather writing about. What made me go back through the ridiculous imagination is the same diary; I took hours to write down experiences of the previous day and I feared I was doing more of diary than my homework as a school goer. Was it any good? I don't know. I have lost a few of my diaries to the termites over the years! (Another time I'm referring to the termites on my blog). Every time I talk of paper, I can only think of these lousy creatures. The battle with them still goes on...they win, I kill, they win, I kill. Does killing them show my victory? No, as you say, because I'm killing them each time only after their victory - an act of my cowardliness. The time I spent on a diary after school is even more and its still hard to believe that those were the pages I lost forever.

May be the real thing that got me excited on getting a diary this year was because I totally had forgotten my relationship with the diary. I was happy, but does it give me the enthusiasm to write on it? No. Primarily, it must be because I spent too much time scribbling on digital versions of diaries, online notepads, blogging, and microblogging spaces, and there was nothing much I could jot down on a diary. Secondly, it feels like I had lost pleasure of being private with my diary! Over years, I had learnt to share thoughts, ideas, opinions, and even participate in discussions on the web. This was not my-kind-of-thing previously just like anyone. Until then sharing thoughts with someone else was an uncommon thought for me, except with friends and family. But have I broken my own rules being public, now that on a blog? Though I have largely realized the truth, I'm yet to explore it. Should I consider this the social networking space's victory over my private space? A multitude of questions arise by then, but sometimes unwilling to explore, I continue liking my network and the people connected.

Now comes the serious effect of having left off the habit of not writing a diary in the past years; what more than saying it simple - I lost my pattern of handwriting. There was something I called 'my font,' which I think I no longer possess. Whenever I write something these days, my sister asks me what I was doing. To add to that, I took a pen only when I had to sign an application, a requisition, or to write down a phone number when someones dictating digits over the phone (only when I can't access Windows Notepad immediately). From the days someone praising my handwriting to the days now that my bank's credit card executive asking me to do trials of signature multiple times on plain paper before trying the application form (because he found me inconsistently signing with a change in pattern of the curves in my name), I have grown worse in what I never thought would be something to talk about - my handwriting. I pity myself!

This year, seems, I'll at least regain my habit of opening my diary frequently to write hints, codes, or notes that'll keep me good with a pen, and also hope I'll get more personal with it again.

[bibsin-blog]

Stars 2011

I haven't seen anything like this before. I've seen more than a 100 stars together glowing in the streets near my home in Nagercoil, but Ambalathinkara Church near Kazhakuttom displayed their welcoming the New Year with 2011 stars shining in beauty all over the neighborhood and filling the sky a little above your head. The whole place seemed to be a roof networked with stars.

2011 stars is what they said & I couldn't imagine counting them. I could count about 11 stars that were not glowing :-) and it was a glowing night that I enjoyed standing beneath the stars for a long time!

Venue: Ambalathinkara Church near Kazhakuttom, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

[bibsin-blog]

Man Madan Ambu (2010) - An arrow that missed target!

I'm not feeling happy or jumping in joy to shout that I watched the movie within the first week of its release. Well, I didn't enjoy the movie for the most part, but I can't ignore it as an ordinary movie either. If it had not been for the cast & characterization, this would have terribly gone wrong. Acting was fine from ‘everyone’ – need special mention to Ramesh Aravind. If I'm not mentioning the others, its because I don't want to waste time writing their names. Very natural performance from everyone including those kids. When the master is with them, even the kids can't go wrong with acting. But when it comes to script, was it scripted well? Why all the chaos for such a silly subject? Editing was poor during the second half. Or was it purposely made to confuse the audience? Simple things were complicated so that they could fall in place to form the climax!! I can't categorize this movie under comedy either. There are scenes that will make you laugh, but most of the dialogs are indecipherable. I initially thought there was some problem with the theater's sound system because all noise and voices came from the center and it was unclear too. Its the next day that I found out that many people at different theaters experienced difficulty understanding Tamil dialogs, the reason being that they have used real-time sound for the movie. There are advantages of using this kind of spot recording for movies (a few of Kamal Haasan's earlier movies are examples), but for this movie - was it necessary?

When I shifted to forgetting about the star cast and started watching the movie plainly, that didn't work either. At least the camera should have been utilized more effectively so that the beauty of the places could be admired to get rid of boredom. Closeups and portraits were fine, but there were not enough scenes that show the beauty of the trip on Splendida or the landscapes at large of Venice or Spain or any other location. Its Manush Nandan's maiden sail at cinematography and maybe thats what he could do best. And kudos to Trisha for dubbing in her own voice.

The only remarkable portion in the movie was “Neela Vaanam” song - great stuff there, though the idea didn't originate from them. This song is amazing work and deserves appreciation for music, singing, direction, and even costumes. If they had put half the effort put into this less-than-5-min song, the movie would have been a good one to remember. Again, why these complications for a simple story? Complications as a result of bad scripting and editing!!

Verdict:

Manmadhan Ambu is an arrow that deviates at halfway and misses target. If you take it as a journey, you may enjoy the ride; but as a movie I’m not happy about it.

Rating:

4.5/10

[bibsin-blog]

Can't The New Year Wait?

The weekend went fine but not exciting! A good moment is that I met a friend whom I hadn't met in a longtime. The 4 of us, including him, managed to get time to go out for dinner. On nearing the restaurant and when my friend was parking the car, I suddenly remembered that I had been to that restaurant years ago on the day of its opening when my friends actually took me there. Must be around eight years ago, though I don't even remember the year exactly! So it was my second ever visit there and we got some good food (maybe because we weren't regular there) and had a good time too.

Earlier in the day, the cleaning and mopping activities in my room left me fairly exhausted! It was just 20 minutes away to 12 when I reached home after dinner. Upon my cousin's request, I had to switch on my PC to play a movie for her, and today morning I could only remember seeing the opening titles of the movie last night.

Its Sunday and when everyone's busy decorating their homes for Christmas if not already, I was busy working on editing some text in notepad; creating and editing a to-do list of everything that I wish should be done before New Year. However, I'm still not convinced with what I wrote on it. That makes me sad but clear that if I can't prepare a proper to-do list, I'm not gonna fully accomplish the tasks mentioned either. The final task now, which I started doing immediately was renewing and revising the expense sheet for the year 2010. I could find that I had to add more columns to get things filled in for the year 2011, almost double the columns than that I had used for this year. Though I felt like neglecting those new columns, I couldn't ignore them because I knew that in no way can few things be neglected because I have already been spending for some of those new categories in the columns this year. Now the Excel sheet has added columns, added expense, and added to-dos and tasks, but my source of income remains the same in just 'one' column!!

The second half of the day started with having lunch, watching a movie 'Kadha Thudarunnu' (Malayalam) - a feel-good Sathyan Anthikkad typical one, and finally having tea. When I'm at my system, my friends come home and take me for Sunday dinner, which we hadn't been doing in sometime. Great food again at Hotel Prabhu - the chicken fry still makes me a marveller! Then we're 4 kms away from there, to our regular teashop, having tea.

I'm home now, still in deep thought about the expense sheet I created this morning. New Year seems to be welcoming me more hastily than before. And am I going to survive this self-audit?? Its going to be the same wallet with a few more holes on it the next year. Can New Year at least be late so that I can spend my fav. month of December with joy and fun.

Why can't it wait?

[bibsin-blog]

Arousing Black Tea

Tea has always fascinated me, especially the Black Tea. An insight into what actually must be fascinating in it, I’m wordless to describe! But there are several reasons that still keep me attached and attracted to this tea; maybe the color it shows upon boiling to a certain level, the aroma and vapor it produces when poured to a mug or a tea glass, the sweetness it contributes when sugar and tea leaves are mixed, or the fresh taste that fills the tongue and taste buds after I’ve drawn the cup away from my lips after the first sip!

Having it during a cold weather like what it is now, in December, I felt the need to write a post on what I’ve liked to sip very often than any other drink. The Sulaimani, as I call it most times, is what it is referred to in the Malabari region of Kerala. Adding a bit of spice to it with cardamom (elachi), its called Elachi Tea and when added with crushed pepper it becomes Pepper Tea. Then comes my favorite Lemon Tea, which has juice drops from fresh lemon added to the black tea. Now look at what I got!!