what do you do if....

....you have a broadband account that limits downloads to 1 GB per month. and if you have a P2P software like limewire with its dazzling reach to good music? well, you just wait till the last day of the month with some 400 mb still uncovered in your account, and then go on a downloading frenzy. oh, how i wish unlimited broadband was cheaper that it is now!

my neighbourhood dvd store!!!

well, any local dvd store that stocks wild strawberries and the odd tarkovsky, apart from luis brunuel, passolini, kurosawa and fellini ought to be good. to get to watch these movies for 25 bucks is simply superb. i am all for piracy, if, as anurag kashyap says, it can get to you the best and the banned to your living room, who the hell cares if the big studios don't get their share of dvd revenue. as for all these offbeat directors, they would only be happy that their movies are accesible to definitely-less-than-intellectual types like me, with definite aspirations to be at least a pseudo intellectual!

amazing internet

the internet may be all things to all people, but to me, perhaps the most amazing and practical feature has been its usefulness in transferring money across cities and banks. imagine, at the click of a few buttons, money just zips across the globe to the intended recepient. while critics may argue that it is a risky proposition, for ordinary folk like you and me it is a godsend. it just makes everything so simple.

Discovered Limewire

Oh this is a beauty. Limewire is a P2P file sharing software that lets you swap music and download songs and other stuff from peers across the network. and what a joy!!! been downloading pink floyd by the dozen. in fact, i think it is easier to use than bittorrent, the other well-known P2P software. let's hope i get hold of some good western classical stuff too. for all ye who wnat to know how to download and use this, just go to the link above and download limewire. it is free. you may need to download the latest java runtime environment if you don't have it already. check it out

finally the ozzies are sweating

but in adelaide, no score is big enough for the team batting second. and many teams batting third have been bundled out for less than 200 runs. it will be fun to see how it pans out. till then, it is some just thrashing for arrogant punter and his boys.

Rambo, a disappointment

more gory than other Rambo movies, treads on shaky political territory, with an evangelical bent of mind, this must be sly's worst rambo movie. i thought rocky balboa was better, even for a sequel. i think my fav will be first blood, that was gripping.

padmarajan's movies

is there anybody reading this who has the entire set? pls pls pass it on, i will copy those and return them safely!!!!!

Sachin gets away with anything!!!

Imagine, this guy has been terrible form for over three years. one can't remember a single instance (ok, the Chennai test and the sharjah one-dayer against the Ozzies are exceptions) when he has won a mathc for the country. and he is given a long rope, all because his name happens to be sachin tendulkar. Poor Ganguly clawed his way intot he team, got over 1200 runs in one calendar year at an average of 44, he got a double hundred and steered the team out trouble many times, and yeta, he gets dropped from the ODI side. what luck!!! or should i say, the honest, straight-forward, call-a-spade-a-shovel Gangulys of the world are always at the receiving end no matter what they do.

dowry

watched a malayalam movie "stridhanam". It means dowry. somewhat simplistic, and towards the end a straight-out-of-Austen moral fable, but quite convincing nevertheless.

mahabharata

a tale of love, lust, forbidden trysts, test-tube babies, atomic weapons, celibacy, power, bravery, women's empowerment and everything else. truly it is said that "what is contained herein may be found elsewhere, but what is not here cannot be found anywhere else." Ramesh Menon has made it easy read. maybe not as stirring as Ashok Banker's Ramayana, but effective. but then, maybe it is the story, which is supposedly seven times as long as the Iliad and Odyssey combined. Why look for Greek treasures when you can find it here?

From the Holy Mountain

It's part travelogue, part history, part journalism and part autobiography, while it pretends to be travel writing. a very good book, probably better in narrative scope than his City of Djinns. William Dalrymple hooks up every little piece into one big mosaic.

astrology for you!!!

what is it about astrology or a belief in it that gets everyone or some people riled??? well, isnt't it a belief system like countless others, i asked. and then, this somebody just changed topics. apparently, the weather was more interesting!

Mad at the Ozzies

Agreed Dravid's decision was a close call, and Ganguly's fell prey to an earlier agreeement between captains of both teams, but if eight decisions out of nine are fixed in their favour, and if the racism allegation was intended to demoralise us, then these low tactics have worked, and worked admirably. Now the Ozzies are the undisputed kings of test cricket, the record books will prove that. But, when the history of the game is written, at least by fair-minded chaps, then this Sydney test will go down as singularly lacking in ethics. It is ok to rile the batsmen or the bowler, but not okay to shift the blame for alleged racist taunts entirely to one side. remember, two teams played and the most sledge-abled team won. it also brought the gentlemen's game into disrepute. this was winning at all costs. even the mighty west indians played their cricket hard, and they had a better team through the 60s, 70s and 80s than the ozzies have had in the last decade or so, but they were known to play fair. That is one word the ozzies have deleted from their lexicon. What else can you expect of descendants of ex-convicts?

colours of life

this blog is like cocaine, yu can never get enough of it if yu are hooked. a near one month lay-off from blogging has given me definite withdrawal symptoms. now, as they say, i am back. was just reading a friend's blog. she has a way with words. would make a good writer, if she persists. so what have i been doing these last few days? well, went visiting relatives, did nothing, just that staring into space thing, and felt good doing that. watched silly stuff on television and kept everyone on edge with my insane actions. that felt better. no internet, no blogs, no nothing, just hogging and sleeping at 9 o clock. haven't seen a movie in ages, now got to catch up on simple pleasures. the new year is a year well begun!!!! i hope it has been the same for ye all!!!