<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583</id><updated>2012-02-15T09:00:41.027-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Ventilation</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>31</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-5820829228978602579</id><published>2007-10-03T08:38:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-10-03T08:45:36.574-04:00</updated><title type='text'>7G Rainbow Colony - Haunting..Disturbing..Classic !</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RwOO4iluWdI/AAAAAAAAAEg/_lTSjh0JQ0E/s1600-h/7g.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RwOO4iluWdI/AAAAAAAAAEg/_lTSjh0JQ0E/s320/7g.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5117090703631866322" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I had a chance to watch the movie after a few years. This movie could probably be the best movie made in the past 5 years.That's how good the movie is.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The dialogs are very casual and natural.The performances are perfect and so called directorial touches are just mind blowing.I am not sure if this movie has a flaw.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Selvaraghavan is an ace ! Karthi is really lucky to get a chance to work with him in his second movie.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh yeah , not to mention , having Yuvan come out with his best stuff , helps !&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-5820829228978602579?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/5820829228978602579/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=5820829228978602579&amp;isPopup=true' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/5820829228978602579'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/5820829228978602579'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2007/10/7g-rainbow-colony-hauntingdisturbingcla.html' title='7G Rainbow Colony - Haunting..Disturbing..Classic !'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp1.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RwOO4iluWdI/AAAAAAAAAEg/_lTSjh0JQ0E/s72-c/7g.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-5611642834258171662</id><published>2007-07-12T11:10:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-07-12T11:15:41.750-04:00</updated><title type='text'>Talk about Regional..Language..based...Racism...</title><content type='html'>First of all , this cracks me up. I am not taking this too seriosuly. But it is interesting to note that , from the time REDIFF allowed comments to be posted on their stories , they usually end up being Equal Opportunity Regional bashing contests.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Take a look at this..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;According to Rediff Movie === Tamil MoviesAccording to Rediff , there is only Tamil movies are released&lt;br /&gt;by Senso Johnson on Jul 12, 2007 05:23 PM &lt;/span&gt;| Hide replies&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;According to Rediff , there is only Tamil movies are released&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am not seeing single post on Malayalam, Tamil and kannada.Even Hindi is rare.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;    Forward  |  Report abuse&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;RE:According to Rediff Movie === Tamil MoviesAccording to Rediff , there is only Tamil movies are released&lt;br /&gt;by Raju Sunder on Jul 12, 2007 05:43 PM&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;malayalam is waste. you can ignore it&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;   Forward   |   Report abuse&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; RE:According to Rediff Movie === Tamil MoviesAccording to Rediff , there is only Tamil movies are released&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;by George Nadar on Jul 12, 2007 05:58 PM&lt;br /&gt;how can you say that malayalam is waste see most of the tamil films is being remade of malayalam yester years blockbuster...plz keep it in mind....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;   Forward   |   Report abuse&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;  &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; R&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;E:According to Rediff Movie === Tamil MoviesAccording to Rediff , there is only Tamil movies are released&lt;br /&gt;by ninteacha on Jul 12, 2007 08:00 PM&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;dey para pandi, you copy all of your movies from malayalam and now it is waste, typical pandi attitude&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;   Forward   |   Report abuse&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; RE:According to Rediff Movie === Tamil MoviesAccording to Rediff , there is only Tamil movies are released&lt;br /&gt;by muthu selvan on Jul 12, 2007 08:10 PM&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;mooduda.. poori mooney..malayala patti..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;   Forward   |   Report abuse&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-5611642834258171662?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/5611642834258171662/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=5611642834258171662&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/5611642834258171662'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/5611642834258171662'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2007/07/talk-about-regionallanguagebasedracism.html' title='Talk about Regional..Language..based...Racism...'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-7773187052883870343</id><published>2007-06-19T10:56:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2007-06-19T11:43:05.636-04:00</updated><title type='text'>Sivaji - My review</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/Rnf5e8zBrKI/AAAAAAAAACI/gX3dzpAg7dY/s1600-h/sivaji.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/Rnf5e8zBrKI/AAAAAAAAACI/gX3dzpAg7dY/s320/sivaji.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077801414995061922" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Finally saw the film on Friday the 15th of June after being excited about it for almost 2 years. I still have the news clip from SUN TV that announced this movie on my DVR , if that does not tell you how much I expected from this movie !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway , The movie was a TREAT , thoroughly enjoyable , nearly 200 minutes of entertainment , that makes you forget your day to day worries.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now, does that mean it was a great movie ...Not really. The movie was just Rajni..Rajni..and Rajni all the way. The movie had its Shankar elements for about 30 minutes post intermission , but thats about it. But I wont go as far as to say that anyone could have made this movie. Because Shankar has worked too hard in the execution of minor details , throughout the movie ,but again this does not translate to flawlessness. The movie has its own share of flaws. But Rajni , makes you forget all those and just enjoy the movie.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now on to my Grades ( 1 - 10 , 10 being the best )&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;KV Anand - 7&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Nothing exceptional from him, though he has made a strong effort to avoid bad angles for Rajni. Strong stuff with the song picturisation , but the sets let him down in Sahaana.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;which..brings me to ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thotta Tharani - 4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He should have got a higher grade tham this , if he didnt screw up Sahana. The set was pathetic. This song should have been shot outdoors. The sets looked like something out of an old Bagyaraj/T Rajendhar movie. But he did do well in Athiradee and Vaji Vaji.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Peter Heinz - 5&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One word for the fights - Overdose. One should know , who they are working with. Rajni fights should be more stylish , not more powerful. Vikram , in Anniyan , fighting 30 guys or pushing 10 guys at once , looked believable , but with Rajni , it just doesn't fit.I did like the close up's for Rajni during the fights , where he growls like a lion. Poor attempt of humor in the first fight , which was too long and excruciatingly painful....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;which brings me to &lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anthony - 5&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The first half looks butchered and Anthony deserves most of the blame alongwith Shankar. There were too many cuts across scenes and story lines. Nothing to write home about for Anthony , except the work in the Style song.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Choreography - By song&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ballelakka - 4 - Not upto expectations , lacks quickness in cuts/movements and drags.&lt;br /&gt;Vaji - 6 - Sets made you forget everything else. (side note : Shreya looked AWESOME)&lt;br /&gt;Sahana - 3 - Enough said - they wasted an awesome song&lt;br /&gt;Style - 7 - Great picturisation and well edited for the movements&lt;br /&gt;Athiradee - 10 - Awesome execution - Neat planning - About 10 times better than muqabla where Shankar had a similar backdrop&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;ARR - 6&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The songs were awesome , but ARR could have done a better job of re-recording. Most of the first half was lacking speed because of his poor background score. Most of his RR was a rehash of songs. He might be the master composer today in the Indian Film industry , but definitely lags behind Ilayaraja ( in miles ) when it comes to background score.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Shankar - 5&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Shankar has done a good job of execution but has let us down with his usual twists and turns in all his movies. The screenplay is predictable. The only complaint is we didn't get enough of him&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Actors&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Vivek - 8&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Awesome performance , gives the film a much needed lift , when it drags&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Shreya - 7&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Does her job well....which is to look real good !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Suman - 6&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Played his part well , but the dubbing seems off..at certain points.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Rajnikanth - 10&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The reason I give him a perfect 10..is not because his histrionics are Oscar worthy , but because of his effort. You can see that he has put his heart and soul into this role. I'm sure 40 to 50% of his call sheet was spent in make-up. Its really difficult for a star of his stature to basically , shut up and put up , with whatever Shankar expected from him. Kudos to Rajinikanth...He carries this behemoth on his 57 year old shoulders and does a fine job at that.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Overall , the movie is not perfect , but Its a perfect Rajnikanth film and as someone said...What Rajni does is not stylish...What Rajni does becomes style... is proved in Sivaji , once again.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-7773187052883870343?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/7773187052883870343/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=7773187052883870343&amp;isPopup=true' title='15 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/7773187052883870343'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/7773187052883870343'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2007/06/sivaji-my-review.html' title='Sivaji - My review'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp1.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/Rnf5e8zBrKI/AAAAAAAAACI/gX3dzpAg7dY/s72-c/sivaji.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>15</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-2181623766865293894</id><published>2007-02-12T11:31:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2007-02-12T11:37:35.404-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Pretty Good Stuff</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RdCXWyY3TDI/AAAAAAAAABY/8JLYYZKPTh8/s1600-h/180px-Yuvan.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RdCXWyY3TDI/AAAAAAAAABY/8JLYYZKPTh8/s320/180px-Yuvan.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5030687201511820338" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;A lot of people know that I am biased when it comes to liking YSR's music. But everyone should give me a chance here and listen to songs from&lt;a href="http://www.tamilbeat.com/tamilsongs/newreleases/Deepavali/"&gt; Deepavali&lt;/a&gt;. The album has five songs and Yuvan has done a solid job.&lt;img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/SAYEER%7E1.KAI/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg" alt="" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;The pick of the album is Kathal Vaithu sung by Vijay Yesudas.  The song has great instrumentation(bass work is stupendous) and I just love the seconds work. Yuvan has really hit the grand slam with this one. The other songs are pretty good as well. One marked improvement Yuvan has made over the years is his mixing ability. Sounds are clear and notes can be heard with good precision. I would recommend a good set of headphones when listening to these songs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.orampo.com"&gt;Oram Po&lt;/a&gt; - is Jamshad's next movie. The name was changed from Auto , due to goverment regulations. I recently saw the trailer of this movie and fell out of my couch. It is hilarious. This movie also holds the distinction of being directed by real life couple. I would recommend you guys to watch the trailer on the web, if you dont have SUN TV.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-2181623766865293894?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/2181623766865293894/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=2181623766865293894&amp;isPopup=true' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/2181623766865293894'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/2181623766865293894'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2007/02/pretty-good-stuff.html' title='Pretty Good Stuff'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp0.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RdCXWyY3TDI/AAAAAAAAABY/8JLYYZKPTh8/s72-c/180px-Yuvan.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-7012459517618957581</id><published>2006-12-19T14:58:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-12-19T15:01:06.090-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Sivaji - Part 2</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RYhEqBKUCRI/AAAAAAAAAAs/gBrcdznYfxI/s1600-h/thala.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RYhEqBKUCRI/AAAAAAAAAAs/gBrcdznYfxI/s320/thala.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5010330074106562834" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Yes...That is Super Star..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am stealing this from my friend Kamalesh -&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;" Thalaivar oru get-up maathina nooru get-up maathina maadiri "&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-7012459517618957581?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/7012459517618957581/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=7012459517618957581&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/7012459517618957581'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/7012459517618957581'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/12/sivaji-part-2.html' title='Sivaji - Part 2'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp2.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RYhEqBKUCRI/AAAAAAAAAAs/gBrcdznYfxI/s72-c/thala.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-7716978227134811768</id><published>2006-12-04T10:27:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-12-04T10:36:59.860-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Vidyasagar's GEMS</title><content type='html'>It’s been a while since I have posted on this blog.I have been busy with my sports blog. But a couple of good songs I heard prompted me to write this post.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RXRAEuGqiHI/AAAAAAAAAAM/mDUBoqsHQsw/s1600-h/Vidyasagar.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RXRAEuGqiHI/AAAAAAAAAAM/mDUBoqsHQsw/s320/Vidyasagar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5004695535755102322" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I  have always liked Vidyasagar, right from his "Nethaji" days. The man has a rare combination of music knowledge.I had a chance to meet him and spend some time in his recording studio once in &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Madras&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;. He patiently listened to my moronic questions and answered it. When I challenged him that it was KJ Yesudoss that sang , "Poothirukkum Maname" in Puthaiyal , he humbly corrected my stupid proclamation and said it was Hariharan. I was like..."Err...Sorry "      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;He seems very knowledgeable and has definitely got "it". The knock on him early in his career was his lack of box-office success but all that has changed in the recent years(Read "Chandramukhi")&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;These are some of his songs I have really enjoyed.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;1.Anbe Anbe - Uyirodu Uyiraaga&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This song is just amazing. The singers Chitra &amp; Hariharan are just perfect.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I have not always enjoyed the "extra" touches that Hari gives in his songs , but in this song they just seem to fit perfectly.Infact I liked all the songs in the film. Srinivas got a big break singing the "Poovukellam" in this film.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;http://www.oosai.com/tamilsongs/uyirodu_uyiraga_songs.cfm&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;2.Orre Manam - Villain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Another lost classic. The film was a regular KS Ravikumar film, which did well. But this song did not get its due credit. Sadhana Sargam just rocks in this song.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;http://www.oosai.com/tamilsongs/villan_songs.cfm&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;3.Azhakooril Poothavlae - ThiruMalai&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;SPB is my favorite playback singer. So when he sings, which is not often these days, I listen to it pretty eagerly. Though this song has the usual Vidyasagar rhythm sequence (which he uses a lot) , SPB takes this song over the hump.&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;http://www.oosai.com/tamilsongs/thirumalai_songs.cfm&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;4.Kanden Kanden -  Madurey&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This was the song everyone thought, KJ Yesudoss sang. Surprise, Surprise!!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Madhu Balakrishnan did a kick ass job and this is a great number.&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;http://www.oosai.com/tamilsongs/madurey_songs.cfm&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;5.Kaalai Arumbi- Kana Kanden&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Though, the first prize in this song goes to KV Anand for his stunning yet simple visuals , VS gets to share the prize with him. Simple but yet innovatively done.&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;http://www.oosai.com/tamilsongs/kana_kanden_songs.cfm&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;6. Poo Vaasam - Anbe Sivam&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This song is popular but I still had to put it on there. I would request all of you to enjoy this song with the visual brilliance of Kamal. You want to fall in love and do the things he does when you enjoy this song. (I wanted to badly..Too bad Kiran was taken...hehe)&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This film also has "Mounamae" , by SPB &amp; Chandrayee , another beautiful song. Overall a great album.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;http://www.oosai.com/tamilsongs/anbey_sivam_songs.cfm&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;7.Athhi Atthi Kaai - Aathi&lt;/span&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Another good song in an atrocious film. Soft number by thalaivar. Great rendition - What's new?&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;http://www.oosai.com/tamilsongs/aathi_songs.cfm&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;8.Chithirayil Enna Varum - Sivapathigaaram&lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This is a brand new film , Sivapathigaaram. Considering the reviews , its propably going to not run for more than a month. So chances are people are going to forget this song. But dont miss it.Karthik and Swarnalatha have done a really good job. Unlike ,DK , I dont want to dismiss Swarnalatha as a bad singer.She just needs to be chosen for the right song.&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;http://www.oosai.com/tamilsongs/sivappathikaram_songs.cfm&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;ALERT : Please listen to these songs in good audio system. Hearing it at a low volume on your laptop so that your cubicle neighbor does not hear is not doing justice to the music. Also a Good Mood helps!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;Enjoy !&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-7716978227134811768?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/7716978227134811768/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=7716978227134811768&amp;isPopup=true' title='34 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/7716978227134811768'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/7716978227134811768'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/12/vidyasagars-gems.html' title='Vidyasagar&apos;s GEMS'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp2.blogger.com/_athYIrzD8x4/RXRAEuGqiHI/AAAAAAAAAAM/mDUBoqsHQsw/s72-c/Vidyasagar.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>34</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-116179497146018039</id><published>2006-10-25T12:48:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:54:02.996-05:00</updated><title type='text'>My new Blog</title><content type='html'>I created a new BLOG - a sports only blog.&lt;br /&gt;Why and other questions answered there...Check out.. &lt;a href="http://MyOwnESPN.Blogspot.com"&gt;My Own ESPN&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-116179497146018039?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/116179497146018039/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=116179497146018039&amp;isPopup=true' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/116179497146018039'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/116179497146018039'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/10/my-new-blog.html' title='My new Blog'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-115989201593833812</id><published>2006-10-03T12:02:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:54:02.666-05:00</updated><title type='text'>You talk Tamil - You get interrogated !</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/287261_tamil02ww.html?source=mypi"&gt;Check out this story..&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I really dont know who to blame in this  scenario.  Should I blame the guy for talking loudly in a public place in Tamil or Should I blame the off duty airport employee to get freaked out about it and complain to the police ? Well ..we dont have the transcript of what the guy spoke. But this is where I come into play...Enjoy !! HeHe !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 51);"&gt;Guy 1 (in the airport) : Machi..Nethikku Game Paathiya ??  &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"&gt;We Killed Them....&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 51);"&gt;Guy 2 (on the other end) : It was a good game..but i think since the score was onesided we should have rested our players in the 4th qtr...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 51);"&gt;Guy 1 : Podaaanga.....&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"&gt;We should have killer instinct&lt;/span&gt; da...appothaan antha team'kku nammalla pathu theriya varum...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 51);"&gt;Guy 2 : What if out main guy gets hurt in the 4th qtr in a game we are already winning ?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 51);"&gt;Guy 1 : Machi...game'la adhellam sagajam da..."&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"&gt;You cant bother about blood on the battlefield&lt;/span&gt;"&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 51);"&gt;Guy 2 : Anyway ,..next week is an important game..and we should win that...or else we can only get to the position we were in last year...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 204, 51);"&gt;Guy 1 : Machi...namma jeyikka porom da...im confident...&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"&gt;what we did last year..is nothing...what we are going to do next week...the world will be stunned&lt;/span&gt;....namma avanagala easy'aa thokkadikilaam...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If this was the conversation that actually went on and the airport official heard that...I really cant blame the airport official .&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-115989201593833812?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/115989201593833812/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=115989201593833812&amp;isPopup=true' title='14 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115989201593833812'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115989201593833812'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/10/you-talk-tamil-you-get-interrogated.html' title='You talk Tamil - You get interrogated !'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>14</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-115807945610869867</id><published>2006-09-12T11:11:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:54:01.840-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Too many things on my head   - Updated</title><content type='html'>Have you ever had that feeling that you want to blog your opinion about everything that made an impact on you over a few days...Well, I have had that feeling for a while now and this post is the result …So here we go….&lt;br /&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;"&gt;9/11&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;****&lt;br /&gt;Yesterday marked the fifth anniversary of the tragic events that took place on &lt;a href="http://www.september11news.com/"&gt;9/11/01&lt;/a&gt;. Time does fly real fast. I remember that day vividly. A regular morning at our house in &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;Akron&lt;/st1:city&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; where I was convincing Asif (my roomie) that our TV should also be used to watch channels other than MTV &amp; VH1. Turned on MSNBC, they were talking about the first plane crash into the WTC and as I was watching in amazement another plane hit the second tower. My heart stopped.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Recollected myself and proceeded to an Advanced Operating Systems class that morning which was suspended in about 20 minutes after it began. Our university was shutdown and everyone was asked to vacate the campus immediately. The university had received information that our &lt;a href="http://www2.uakron.edu/cpspe/"&gt;Polymer Science Centre&lt;/a&gt; (one of the best in the world) could be a target.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;We came back home and all of us watched the NEWS for the whole day. Someone suggested we could play cricket at &lt;a href="http://kramerikaindustries.blogspot.com/"&gt;Geethu’s &lt;/a&gt;(another akronite, roomie later) backyard later in the day since classes were cancelled. I opined that it might be kind of insensitive and plain stupid to do that considering the tragedy that took place. Most agreed, we moved on.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I hope things settle down in the world and look foreword to the day when we can all co-exist, get rid of HATE!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;US Open&lt;br /&gt;********&lt;br /&gt;Roger Federer == &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Federer"&gt;Tennis God&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;When I watched Federer do his thing, it was like watching Michelangelo at work. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Pure art. This guy is a genius and I really don’t know what else to say about his game that others have not said.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Maria Sharapova == Hottest Champion&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Err….Guy Moment...Sorry(&lt;a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;amp;q=Maria+Sharapova&amp;btnG=Google+Search"&gt;but i have a valid reason..look at the first google result&lt;/a&gt;). But Maria is just not all beauty. She is a very talented pro who is still in her teens. The sky is the limit for her&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;NFL Kickoff&lt;br /&gt;***********&lt;br /&gt;Coming from an NBA fan, I was truly impressed by the way the NFL carried out its opening weekend. The &lt;a href="http://www.suntimes.com/output/football/cst-spt-mann06.html"&gt;Manning duel&lt;/a&gt; was a classic and big brother prevailed.Athletes should really have something that we normal people don’t .Otherwise, how can you explain the fact they are trying to beat their sibling? I can’t do it. Hats off to the Mannings, Barber’s, Willam’s etc. Way to go , Professionalism !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;!--[endif]--&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;College Football&lt;br /&gt;**************&lt;br /&gt;Props to The Ohio State Buckeyes, for going to &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;Austin&lt;/st1:city&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; and getting a huge win.But columbus could ahve done without &lt;a href="http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/sports/15498982.htm"&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;st1:state st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Texas&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:state&gt;, IMO was overrated and it showed. Was it a revenge game? You betcha! Don’t let them tell you otherwise! Also, Kudos to The University of Akron Zips for beating NC State in a &lt;a href="http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/144122"&gt;thrilling game&lt;/a&gt; last weekend. &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;Akron&lt;/st1:city&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; is finally getting some face time on ESPN and I love it!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Making New Friends&lt;br /&gt;*****************&lt;br /&gt;As one gets older, it is difficult to make good friends. I am not going to blame it totally on ourselves or on the people we met. The readers of the blog will make that decision and to help all of you make that decision an excerpt from our conversation :&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;I am meeting a bunch on new desi folks at a local bar...&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Me : Hey , How are you doing ? Im , Sayee , I just moved to the &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Baltimore&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt; Area !&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;(Thinking that such a statement would invoke a similar statement from the other guy)&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Him : Oh Okie…Cool Maaaaaaan…&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Me : (Confused..) OoooKie…and you are?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Him: Aaaah…Im just chilling Maaaaaaan !&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i style=""&gt;(Obviously he has been in the bar for a while, I guess he was tipsy)&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Me: (Still Confused) Ooooook….and you are.. ?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Him: Im *********** maaaaaaaan…From **&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Me: (Finally relieved as he revelaed his name) Aaaah…Hi ********…Nice to meet you !&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Him : That’s okie Maaaaaaan !!&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Me: (Are you kidding meeeeeee ????)&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;(After about 10 mins , I stopped talking to everyone , as I was preoccupied with football on TV. So this guys walks to me and goes..)&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Him : Maaaaaaaaaaaan….Do you like sports ?....Maaaaaaaaaaaaan ?&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Me : Yeah I do..I like almost all the major American sports …especially the NBA !&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Him : Maaaaaaaaaaaan…You are from Chennnnnaaai ? and You like basketball ???&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;                  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Me: Why? What's wrong with that?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Him: Noooo…Maaaaaaaaaaaaan…People from Chennai…Maaaaaaaaaaan…You are the only guy who I know who watches baskeball ….Maaaaaaaaaaaan!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Me: (At this point, I am ready to physically assault him..But I didn’t....) &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;Ooooh Okie…that’s interesting !&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Him: Maaaaaaaaan...Iverson Maaaaaaaaaaaan….He rocks Maaaaaaaann….. None of my friends Maaaannnnnnn…I am only guy …who follows sports&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Me: I guess you need more friends….( I left the bar praying I don’t meet people like this again)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/SuJo.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/SuJo.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;"&gt;Jyothika - Surya&lt;br /&gt;*****************&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;My heartiest wishes to the newly married couple. Both these guys are very genuine and simple human beings . I have no doubt in my mind that their marriage would be very successful !&lt;br /&gt;(I had to post this picture for 1 reasons ...first the obvious reason..the other one is SuperStar - Gotchya...He He)&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-115807945610869867?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/115807945610869867/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=115807945610869867&amp;isPopup=true' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115807945610869867'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115807945610869867'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/09/too-many-things-on-my-head-updated.html' title='Too many things on my head   - Updated'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-115699423471380108</id><published>2006-08-30T22:42:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:54:01.231-05:00</updated><title type='text'>A Beautiful Mind &amp; A Living Legend</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/beautiful%20mind.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/beautiful%20mind.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Part 1 : The movie - A Beautiful Mind&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes..Yes...The movie has been out for more than 5 years and the whole world has watched it and I am probably the last person to watch the movie...But I finally did watch it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I loved the movie. I thought Ron Howard has done a great job with respect to "fictionalizing" the John Nash biography and transformed it into a fantastic movie. Not all great biographies or stories for that matter can be made as good movies.Good cinema requires a lot more than just a good storyline.Russel Crowe was just amazing in his portrayal of John Nash.I only hope , our film makers in India can come up with a movie like this.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="misspell"&gt;Im&lt;/span&gt; a big believer that Indian and particularly Tamil Cinema has some of the best actors/directors/technicians and I hope they can rise up to the occasion to create a movie like this.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Part 2 : A living Legend - TIGER on Prowl again !&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have been following golf recently. Just my two cents for people who don't follow golf. "Yeah...This guy Tiger ...&lt;span id="bad_word" class="misspell"&gt;Yeahhh&lt;/span&gt;...He is pretty good "....(Read in Office Space style)&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/1135830895803tiger_woods_291205.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/1135830895803tiger_woods_291205.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Tiger has 52 tour wins...12 majors championships and he is 31. This kind of domination is unheard of in sports let alone golf.Some people might argue well..&lt;span class="misspell"&gt;Federer&lt;/span&gt; is dominant in tennis. Yes..True..but tennis has had many dominating players like Federer in the past and the same can be said for all sports.But Golf has never had a player dominate a decade like Tiger.His last win came at the PGA Championship that took place in Akron,Ohio.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A person who does not know golf or cannot appreciate golf will love watching Tiger play.Watch Golf...if not for anything else...Just for TIGER !&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-115699423471380108?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/115699423471380108/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=115699423471380108&amp;isPopup=true' title='9 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115699423471380108'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115699423471380108'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/08/beautiful-mind-living-legend.html' title='A Beautiful Mind &amp; A Living Legend'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>9</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-115583622272079230</id><published>2006-08-17T13:35:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:54:00.934-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Power of the Rupee !</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/India.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/400/India.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;'Nuff Said !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-115583622272079230?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/115583622272079230/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=115583622272079230&amp;isPopup=true' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115583622272079230'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115583622272079230'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/08/power-of-rupee.html' title='Power of the Rupee !'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-115509147683380829</id><published>2006-08-08T22:35:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:54:00.478-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Short But Funny..</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"&gt;All of us love our schools/colleges etc.,....on that note , get this...&lt;br /&gt;a funny snippet I read recently on the WWW...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"&gt;"Mani                         Shankar Iyer and Subramaniam Swamy who are both alumni                         of a famous college in Delhi that I shall not name. Both                         these distinguished gentlemen reportedly do not see eye                         to eye. At a college reunion Mr. Swamy is said to have                         written the following comments in the Visitors Book, “What                         I am today is because of this college.” Mani Shankar                         Aiyer, whose entry followed, is alleged to have written, “Why                         blame the college?”&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"&gt;Classic !!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-115509147683380829?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/115509147683380829/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=115509147683380829&amp;isPopup=true' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115509147683380829'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115509147683380829'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/08/short-but-funny.html' title='Short But Funny..'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-115229449466959780</id><published>2006-07-07T13:12:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:54:00.029-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Nee Rajni'ya ..Kamal'a ?</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/SuperStarKamal.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/SuperStarKamal.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I am pretty confident that someone has either asked you this question or you have asked someone this question or heard someone talking about it !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For everything in our lives , we choose sides...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;     1. Rajni Fan'aa....Kamal Fan'aa&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;     2. Sachin'aa...Dravid'aa ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;    3.Ilayaraja'vaa...illa AR.Rahman'vaa...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;   4.Kathirikka Kari pidikuma..illa urlaikazhangu kari pidikuma... ?...you get the point ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Why cant we like both...? Does it make us any less fanatic than..a true..Unadulterated fan ? Moreover its really hard to dislike anyone. Is'nt "hate" a very strong word. Personally, I don't think I can hate any actor. From the little bit of exposure I have had in working in the Industry..and having a slight idea of how much effor these guys put in ? Its really difficult for me to dismiss someone as unfit..Even if they are sometimes. Like..I hate Prashanth..I have seen him in too many movies..but his skills are the same..(or gone down) from the time he acted in Vaigasi Porandhaachu !..I jus wish someone would pour boiling water on his feet..when the camera rolls..to get him to emote !!!...His dialogue delivery has to be one of the worst in Tamil Cinema today.Atleast for his sake we need to revive silent movies !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I digress...Anyway the point is....I feel all young actors today are very competent.They undergo intense training and try to prepare for the rigors of Tamil Cinema. It is not easy being an actor or for the matter ..a technician in the Tamil Film industry!!! Competition is cut throat...and only the best..(and the lucky ones,the rich ones..and the ones that come from famous parents) even get a chance to prove themselves.But after the initial chance to enter the industry..its very difficult to thrive in it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thats why..I think Rajni and Kamal are legends in their own ways.Yess..I am a hardcore Rajni Fan..Yess...I did fly to Chicago(from akron...when I was a poor graduate student) to watch the First show of BABA(Loved the movie BTW....okie i was kidding). Rajni's charisma and screen presence is unmatched...His people skills are possibly the best in the industry.On the other hand Kamal is a sheer genius ! Having had the oppurtunity to work in his unit for about 10 days...I have no other words to describe him ! He jus exudes knowledge ( Though sometimes people say that he is never tired of hearing himself)..and can talk to you pretty much about anything under the planet (provided he thinks your worthy enough for his time)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Among the present lot....I think everyone is good and has a strong point.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vijay (dance/screen presence/comedy)...Surya/Vikram(always choose good subjects..offbeat movies..good acting skills)..Ajith(screen presence..decent skills)..Simbu(good cinema brain..talented dancer/actor)...Dhanush(tremendous actor..jus needs to do good roles) Each one of these guys have had ups and downs..but have survived them...will they last forever like Rajni and Kamal..only time can tell.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Seri....adhellaam udu...Nee rajni'ya...kamal'aa...?&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-115229449466959780?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/115229449466959780/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=115229449466959780&amp;isPopup=true' title='12 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115229449466959780'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115229449466959780'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/07/nee-rajniya-kamala.html' title='Nee Rajni&apos;ya ..Kamal&apos;a ?'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>12</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-115086319497760071</id><published>2006-06-21T00:07:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:59.826-05:00</updated><title type='text'>This HEAT team is HOT !</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/Dwyane.Wade.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/200/Dwyane.Wade.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yess..I am a die hard Cavaliers fan. But I am happy for the Miami HEAT on their first &lt;a href="http://www.nba.com"&gt;NBA &lt;/a&gt;title.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The game just got over and there are a more than a few reasons that MIAMI (a team most experts picked against) won but let me give all of you two words.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dwyane Wade  - Your 2006 Finals MVP ...Congratulations&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-115086319497760071?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/115086319497760071/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=115086319497760071&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115086319497760071'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/115086319497760071'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/06/this-heat-team-is-hot.html' title='This HEAT team is HOT !'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-114832342697034031</id><published>2006-05-22T14:09:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:59.534-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Da Vinci Code and the Cleveland Cavaliers</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/hankstautoudavinci.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/hankstautoudavinci.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Two things made an impact on me this weekend. The movie "Da Vinci Code" and my beloved Cleveland Cavaliers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To start off, I have not read the book. I did hear about the reviews panning the movie.I kinda know the story.With all this background information I went to watch the movie last nite in Ballston.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I liked the movie , I liked the performances by the actors and more importantly,the movie made me want to read the book. But it is important to remember that this movie is based on a fictional story. There is no empirical proof of any theories the movie suggests. Robert Langdon , the protagonist, keeps repeating this fact in the movie !! I dont know what all the side show regarding banning this movie is all about , I think its a waste of time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Check out these interesting sites  : http://www.opusdei.us/&lt;br /&gt;                                                           http://www.davinciantidote.com/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Also check out this interesting &lt;a href="http://www.gracecentered.com/breaking_da_vinci_code.htm"&gt;review &lt;/a&gt;I read about the book.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Overall , this movie made me think about all religions. Now I am interested in knowing the history of Hinduism. Notwithstanding the fact that this movie is fictional , it should be pretty unsettling to realize that the things that we take for granted are not so true after all !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/james-lebron-cp-060519.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/james-lebron-cp-060519.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now..Moving on to my CAVS.Yes they lost to the Pistons in Game 7 in Detroit. I knew our best shot at winning the series was at home. But it was not meant to be. Im happy and proud of my team and I have one proclamation to make to all other NBA fans&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;        "Get Used to seeing LBJ &amp; the CAVS in May &amp;amp; June every year"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As a side note , I was on travel all last week. I was in the Phoenix airport during the 4th quarter of Game 4. The bar I was in had about 200 people . All the folks erupted in unison when the CAVS won. There were 3 reasons that this happened&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;               1. Everyone roots for the underdog (unless your team is not the underdog)&lt;br /&gt;               2.Everyone hates Detroit(for obvious reasons)&lt;br /&gt;               3. And..Yeah EVERYONE LOVES LEBRON JAMES...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have never been happier as a CAVS fan than I am today !!!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-114832342697034031?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/114832342697034031/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=114832342697034031&amp;isPopup=true' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114832342697034031'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114832342697034031'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/05/da-vinci-code-and-cleveland-cavaliers.html' title='Da Vinci Code and the Cleveland Cavaliers'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-114735528890515311</id><published>2006-05-11T09:11:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:59.257-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Tamil Nadu Elections - What do you make of it ?</title><content type='html'>The Tamil Nadu general assembly elections results are out.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table style="width: 228px; height: 247px;" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"&gt; &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td height="22" width="242"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:130%;"  &gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 104, 0);"&gt;Tamil       Nadu&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;td align="right" width="234"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;                     &lt;td height="22"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 52, 152);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;Total       No. of Seats : &lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 104, 0);"&gt;234&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;                 &lt;td height="22"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 52, 152);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;Results        Declared: &lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"&gt;234&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;         &lt;td colspan="2" height="22"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;     &lt;td colspan="2" height="22"&gt;                         &lt;table style="width: 340px; height: 222px;" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0"&gt;         &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr bg="" style="color: rgb(240, 240, 240);"&gt;            &lt;td bg="" style="color: rgb(240, 240, 240);" height="22" width="34%"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 52, 152);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;Party&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td width="22%"&gt; &lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 52, 152);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;Won&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;         &lt;tr&gt;            &lt;td width="34%"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td width="22%"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;         &lt;tr&gt;            &lt;td width="34%"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;DMK&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td width="22%"&gt; &lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;                &lt;strong&gt;103&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;         &lt;tr&gt;            &lt;td width="34%"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;Congress&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td width="22%"&gt; &lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;                35&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;         &lt;tr&gt;            &lt;td width="34%"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;PMK&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td width="22%"&gt; &lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;                21&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;         &lt;tr&gt;            &lt;td&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;CPI              (M) &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;9&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;         &lt;tr&gt;            &lt;td&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;CPI&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;5&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;         &lt;tr&gt;            &lt;td&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;AIADMK&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;52&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;         &lt;tr&gt;            &lt;td&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;MDMK&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;6&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;         &lt;tr&gt;            &lt;td&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;DPI&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;         &lt;tr&gt;            &lt;td&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;DMDK&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;         &lt;tr&gt;           &lt;td&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;Others&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;           &lt;td&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;"  &gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;         &lt;/tr&gt;       &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;    &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt; &lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The DMK alliance has won and Karunanidhi(82 years old) is going to be the CM for the fifth time. He has jus won his 11th straight assembly election. Mind boggling , considering the fact that he has been in public office for more than 55 years.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Though the DMK alliance won , the DMK as a party has not been able to capture the majority by itself. This has resulted in the possibility of a coalition govt. , a rarity in the state. Though the PMK and Congress have indicated that they are not interested in being part of the government , I find it hard to believe. Here's why ..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The congress has won 35 seats , thats a pretty significant number considering that they dont have a leader like GK Moopanar.But they have Chidambaram , who is considered by many as a future CM of TN or even a future PM of India. The congress is the ruling party in the centre and the DMK has several ministers in the Central Govt ( Dayanidhi Maran for instance..who is by the way an alum of Don Bosco, Egmore..my alma mater as well...Yayyyyyyy !!!) as so does the PMK.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It only makes sense that the Congress would want "power" in some way even if they are not part of the Govt. But here is the tricky part , I think that all the alliance partners(Congress,PMK) would be happy to play "Best friend" until Karunanidhi is the CM(or until he is alive)...Karunanidhi is 82 years old and has had a few scares lately.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Im not sure if there was a huge "anti-incumbency" wave in these elections , considering the ADMK alliance won about 60 seats. But the issue that turned the tide towards the DMK was the election Manifesto..(2 Kg Rice..Free color TV..etc., etc.,) .&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Often most of us "Indians" living in the US and elsewhere..think about the positive developments that our country has made over the years. But it is a travesty that people still get carried away by "free stuff". Where is the dignity of a person if he/she would vote for the DMK just because they have promised to give more free stuff than the ADMK ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Frankly after a few hiccups in the first couple of years..the ADMK administration has been pretty solid. This is just not my opinion but the opinion of experts. For instance , I was in favor of the way Jayalalitha handled the Govt Employees strike...suspending 100000 people overnite ..to get them back to work...gutsy move... But arresting them overnite and threatening them was not so much gritty it was more like a vendetta move !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Overall ...I dont think there is a huge difference in the way that Dravidian parties administer the state of Tamil Nadu. I think its a question of who is the lesser evil.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;People have short memories...and its not coincidental that other than MGR , no leader in recent history of TN politics has been the CM for two consecutive terms. MGR was a charismatic ...honest..and "easy to access" leader. People identified themselves with MGR.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is also interesting to note that Vijaykanth has won his assembly seat from Vridhachalam. The only seat his party managed to win..though his party was a respectable third in most of the constituencies. It would be interesting to see if he becomes a responsible member of the Assembly or not.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Other tidbits :S Ve Shekar won his seat in Mylapore by about 2000 votes beating out Actor Napolean ... Vaiko and MDMK have been wiped out of the political map... Sarathkumar and Radhika are in trouble coz they jumped ship from the DMK but RADAAN (media company owned by Radhika) is the producer of all the top shows SUN TV has to offer today...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;End of the day..there was one positive development...the student party started by a group of Ex-IIT'ians..has fared well in Chennai..though they did not win , they gave the other candidates in Chennai a run for their money. I hope these youngsters dont lose their momentum now but keep working towards establishing a name for themselves in the political arena&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-114735528890515311?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/114735528890515311/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=114735528890515311&amp;isPopup=true' title='10 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114735528890515311'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114735528890515311'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/05/tamil-nadu-elections-what-do-you-make.html' title='Tamil Nadu Elections - What do you make of it ?'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>10</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-114504262166698720</id><published>2006-04-14T15:05:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:59.071-05:00</updated><title type='text'>I dont know what the Title should be - Jus felt like posting something...</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/energizerbunnys.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/energizerbunnys.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Today....Because it is April 14th - Which means "New Year's Day" for all the Tamilians - Chithirai masam begins today...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For those who want to the The Tamil calendar year...Here ya go...&lt;a href="http://www.cs.utk.edu/%7Esiddhart/tamilnadu/CAL/index.html"&gt;The Tamil Calendar&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Also today is also the New year for the Bengali's ....Naba Barsha&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Malyalees celebrate Vishu....- Astronomical New year&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Also it so happens that today is Good Friday - The day Jesus was crucified and Sunday is Easter..the Day he re-appeared...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Also...let me share this info with you . Do you know why there is an Easter bunny ? I mean why is a rabbit associated with easter ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The answer is because...The Easter bunny has its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So I guess these "Rabbits" have it goin on !..You know what im Saying..They are pretty good..at you know..and now I know why ENERGIZER picked the bunny as it's mascot..coz they really keep goin on..and on..and on...and on....&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-114504262166698720?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/114504262166698720/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=114504262166698720&amp;isPopup=true' title='7 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114504262166698720'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114504262166698720'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/04/i-dont-know-what-title-should-be-jus.html' title='I dont know what the Title should be - Jus felt like posting something...'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>7</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-114287542201152574</id><published>2006-03-20T12:16:00.001-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:58.828-05:00</updated><title type='text'>One more reason I Love SportsCenter</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/sportscenter.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/sportscenter.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First off.. I am gloating over the CAVS victory over LA on &lt;a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_ylt=AqqRMUTaxsl0bm0d98P.vpi8vLYF?gid=2006031905"&gt;sunday&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Whenever the CAVS win I like to watch ESPN for the next 24 hours , to relive the victory.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And yesterday ..when I was watching one such episode for the Empteeenth time..The sportscaster goes..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Lakers in Cleveland..on Sunday..and that jus means one thing....Eric Snow vs Smush Parker....(chuckle) or the side show between Kobe and Lebron.."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Classic..! Love it !&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-114287542201152574?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/114287542201152574/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=114287542201152574&amp;isPopup=true' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114287542201152574'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114287542201152574'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/03/one-more-reason-i-love-sportscenter_20.html' title='One more reason I Love SportsCenter'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-114123150922691349</id><published>2006-03-01T11:39:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:58.339-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Bush in India. Big Deal? You Betcha!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/BUSH.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/BUSH.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Like it or not, George W Bush is probably the most powerful person in &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;the "free" world today.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt; Yes..He is not the brightest American President we have seen.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes..He is not quite the eloquent speaker like his predecessor.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes..He has made strange (and sometimes appalling) decisions.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;    &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;BUT, Bush is visiting &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;India&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; today!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;           &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;I’m not sure if it says a lot about a Republican President visiting &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, but it surely says a lot about &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and the strides we have made as a country.People in &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;America&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;, as most of you would know, stereotype people of different ethnic origin with the kind of work they do.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;Like say, African Americans are tied to either being a famous/rich Ball player or a troublemaker. Mexicans are either human smugglers or janitors. Indians are either cab drivers or 7/11 clerks or Snake Charmers (believe it or not)..Well Not Anymore.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;Americans thinks of Indians today as successful doctors, smart scientists, brilliant engineers and well...Customer Support Reps. with a bad/fake accent.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The strides &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;India&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; has made over the past 20 years , Since the economy was liberalized (courtesy Manmohan Singh &amp;amp; Co)has the world taking notice about &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;. In fact, &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; has the second-fastest-growing major economy in the world over the past 25 years and &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;trails only the &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;US&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;China&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; when it comes to contribution to the Global GDP.&lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;Leaving all the hatred/ill feelings (if any) against Bush or the USA , behind us, I think this is a moment for all of us to savor.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;Yes. Bush is visiting &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; today and that makes me happy  as  an Indian !&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-114123150922691349?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/114123150922691349/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=114123150922691349&amp;isPopup=true' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114123150922691349'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114123150922691349'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/03/bush-in-india-big-deal-you-betcha.html' title='Bush in India. Big Deal? You Betcha!'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-114046771364496885</id><published>2006-02-20T15:13:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:58.139-05:00</updated><title type='text'>What were you doing ..?</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/james_lebron250.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/james_lebron250.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;When you were 21 years Old ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hmm..I was in my second year of B.E at Crescent Engineering College...Trying to figure out how I can pass my Maths III exam..(Which I eventually figured out when I was like 23..C'mon people its not that easy or is it ?)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But..this post is not about me...Its about Lebron James...for those who don't know who he is ! I think its about time you get to know this &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeBron_James"&gt;21 years old kid..errr...Man Child...(6 Ft 8 in 240 lbs )&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lebron was the highest vote getter (in the Eastern Conference) as a forward for the All Star game in Houston.It was a weekend of fun for all Pro-hoops lovers. I enjoyed it even more coz my beloved Cavalier brought home the All Start Game MVP trophy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For all who think..Lebron's just a ESPN highlight reel...Take a look at his resume..So far..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Youngest Rookie Of the Year Winner,&lt;br /&gt;Youngest to 1000 points,&lt;br /&gt;Youngest to score 40 in a game,&lt;br /&gt;Youngest to score 50 in a game,&lt;br /&gt;Youngest to 2000 points ,&lt;br /&gt;Youngest to triple double,&lt;br /&gt;Youngest All-NBA Player,&lt;br /&gt;Youngest to 3500 pts , 1000 Reb, 1000 Asst.,&lt;br /&gt;Youngest to 5000,&lt;br /&gt;Youngest All-Star MVP&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Pretty Impressive huh..For a guy who could not legally drink a beer until about 2 months ago ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;History says...All great NBA players hit their PRIME when they are 26-28 years old...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Watch out..This is going to get real ugly !&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-114046771364496885?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/114046771364496885/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=114046771364496885&amp;isPopup=true' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114046771364496885'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/114046771364496885'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/02/what-were-you-doing.html' title='What were you doing ..?'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-113959230018594596</id><published>2006-02-10T11:56:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:57.963-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Rang De Basanti  - Masterstroke !</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/RangDe.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/RangDe.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I normally don’t watch Hindi movies. Mostly because, I don’t understand the language as well as I think , I should to enjoy the movie. Secondly, I don’t identify/understand a lot of what Hindi films are trying to convey in their movie.Im not saying Tamil/English films do(the ones I watch all the time) , but Hindi films have always been alien to me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Hindi movies that I watch are either the ones that get critical acclaim from all quarters,like Sarafarosh, Lagaan,Satya,Rangeela,Black etc or the ones that are total masala but enjoyable movies like Hum,Taal,Trimurthy,Khalnayak etc.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After watching Rang De Basanti last night, I can easily say , that it cracked my personal list of TOP 5 movies of all time !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The movie has a patriotic flavor to it. But the movie does not lecture you about patriotism. The movie has a great theme of friendship but it does not have dialogues of friends singing praises of each other (Except for one scene when Sukhi says he loves friends coz they saved his life. He was drunk though. So one can understand that..)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The movie has great comedy, but it's not slapstick or dialogue based humour(a.ka no Crazy Mohan humor)..But...its just really funny. I laughed for one scene so hard that that whole theatre looked at me like I was having a chemical imbalance (or It could also been that I was the only one who laughed for that scene -) When Aamir Khan , calls the kid working in the tea stall and asks him.."Hey Chotu...Bismal ne kya Kaha ..Maalum hai ? " and then practices his dialogue ! Classic!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All the actors fit their roles. no over-acting. Kudos to the casting director...Siddarth is the hero of the movie..and it was refreshing to see that (an TOP star like) Aamir could play second fiddle with great poise. The way the director juxtaposes the past with the present was very creative and crisp.Especially when Sonia says "Maar Dalo Ussse"..Brilliant !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Music was very different and refreshing..ARR played well within his boundaries and has come up with apt tunes. I was very also impressed with his tremendous effort in the background score ! The editing was perfect...There was not one scene you felt that was too long or that was disconnected. The movie progresses like a gentle stream rather than a gushing waterfall (which is very popular now esp. in Tamil moves..Fast screenplay...Fast Cuts..Popularised by movies like Mudhalvan,Boys,Ghilli etc)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All in All..this movie has made me think...and that what I think movies should make viewers do..Jus reflect on it ! If you watch this movie. it will impact you !! Now whether you want to channel that impact to something positive in your life if up to you! Rang De Basanti is more than just a movie. Its got all the elements to make it a phenomenon!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Don't Miss it !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;!--[endif]--&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-113959230018594596?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/113959230018594596/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=113959230018594596&amp;isPopup=true' title='18 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113959230018594596'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113959230018594596'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/02/rang-de-basanti-masterstroke.html' title='Rang De Basanti  - Masterstroke !'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>18</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-113837227623627390</id><published>2006-01-27T09:02:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:57.703-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Yo Yuvan...You There ?</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/SayeeSimbuSrinathYuvan.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/SayeeSimbuSrinathYuvan.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Tamil Film Music is undergoing a sea of change.It's at an all time high.The freshness , vibrancy and the pure pleasure of listening to something innovative in today's Film Music is a blessing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This revolution , if i may , is lead by one - yeah - Yuvan Shankar Raja ! I had a golden opportunity to spend some time with him in his studio , when I was in India , a couple of weeks ago.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yuvan is young , energetic and most importantly very creative.He is also blessed with a great team of young minds who strive to give nothing but the best.The team a.ka. Selvaraghavan(Kadhal Kondaen , 7G Rainbow Colony and now Pudhupettai),Vishnuvardhan(Kurumbu,Arindhum Ariyamamalum and now Pattial) and Simbu(Manmadhan and now Vallavan) are like the &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;"Band of Brothers"&lt;/span&gt;.They dont have the cliched Director - Music Director relationship.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;His music is heavily influenced by his propensity to International Music.But then again , he would churn out a totally mind blowing Carnatic number , or mix Carnatic with western beats and give you Kanda Naal Mudhalaai (from Kanda Naal Mudhal)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The one thing you can bet on Yuvan is that he is going to try to give you something creative and soul stirring.He is a workaholic and Music is what he thinks , lives and breathes ! (Duh..That's a surprise)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Some of his recent best :&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1.Oru Naalil - Pudhupettai&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2.Merke Merke -Kanda Naal Mudhal&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3.Panithuli - Kanda Naal Mudhal&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4.Eno Kangal - Kalvanin Kadhali&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5.Kadhal Enbadhu - Oru Kalooriyin Kadhai&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6.Pul Pesum - Pudhupettai&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Also , all you Yuvan fans , cross your fingers , Yuvan told me something very tempting just as I left his studio."Yuvan:Unplugged - Live in the USA" - - is in the works ., will keep you guys posted.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(PS , I should thank my good buddies Srinath and Simbu (also in pic) who took me along for their recording session of "Vallavan" - Watch out - Vallavan is going to rock)&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-113837227623627390?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/113837227623627390/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=113837227623627390&amp;isPopup=true' title='13 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113837227623627390'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113837227623627390'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2006/01/yo-yuvanyou-there.html' title='Yo Yuvan...You There ?'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>13</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-113562192622055669</id><published>2005-12-26T13:28:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:57.532-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Make up magic</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/s1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/s1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Awrite..it's pretty obvious , I am pumped about Rajni's next movie.Jus wanted to show , what a good director can do ? These two images - One from Thillu Mullu which released about 18 years ago and the other one from Sivaji..!!&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/thillu.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/thillu.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-113562192622055669?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/113562192622055669/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=113562192622055669&amp;isPopup=true' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113562192622055669'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113562192622055669'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2005/12/make-up-magic.html' title='Make up magic'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-113487831546283633</id><published>2005-12-17T22:39:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:57.265-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Thanga Vettai - Hunt for Gold</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/fishpool.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 218px; height: 168px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/fishpool.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Okie..Im gloating over my &lt;a href="http://www.nba.com/cavs"&gt;CAVS &lt;/a&gt;victory over the &lt;a href="http://www.nba.com/heat"&gt;Miami Heat &lt;/a&gt;, it was a great win !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While I was eating my dinner , I flipped the channel to SUN TV.The new game show Thanga Vettai (hunt for gold or gold hunt) was on.It's a trivia show.Now a taste of the questions on the show.&lt;br /&gt;1.Topic : Cricket : How many runs do you score for a boundary ?&lt;br /&gt;2.Topic : General : What is the "Ship of the Desert" ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3.Topic : Literature : Which mythological work of literature did Kambar translate to tamil ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4.Topic : General : How many avatharams does Dasavatharam mean ?(The participant did not know the answer , so a clue was given - "Total number of fingers in both hands" - thank god the participant  was not Hrithik Roshan)&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/01242005ramya-krishnan.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/200/01242005ramya-krishnan.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I understand this a family based trivia show meaning families as a whole take part in it.So you are not looking at 35 year old (No-life , No-girlfriend)geeks taking part in it.But the level of difficulty in these questions is down right pathetic.On top of this ridiculous level of questions&lt;br /&gt;, the host , Ramya Krishnan (Daaaaang..ai'nt she hotttt) makes it seem like the Indian"Jeopardy".&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now , I have a question.How smart should one be to take part in this show ?&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-113487831546283633?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/113487831546283633/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=113487831546283633&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113487831546283633'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113487831546283633'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2005/12/thanga-vettai-hunt-for-gold.html' title='Thanga Vettai - Hunt for Gold'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-113449844859588466</id><published>2005-12-13T13:17:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:57.047-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Sivaji…Paraak..Paraak..Paraak</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/main.2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/main.2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The day, AVM(for those who dont know..AVM is a very old/prestigious film production company in India) announced a movie with Superstar Rajnikanth, is still vivid in my memory.(Of course it was not too long ago , so I remember it really well , It was actually on SUN Thalaippu Seydhigal..I have it on my TIVO).I was so excited that I called all my &lt;i style=""&gt;filmi&lt;/i&gt; friends in India immediately and chatted with them about what a huge opportunity this is for &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajinikanth"&gt;Rajni&lt;/a&gt;,Shankar and the Tamil Film industry as a whole.     &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;For all the readers wondering...what big opportunity ?…well. This film could be Tamil Industry’s “Sholay”,”Titanic” etc...in magnitude, box-office collections. It can rewrite record books.i.e if the opportunity on hand is not wasted!&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/still0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 253px; height: 188px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/still0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;It has been long since Rajnikanth has acted in a film which had the director as the captain of the ship. Well technically the director is the captain of the ship for any movie, but for a Rajnikanth movie its different and most of you know why?(If you dont..its a long story..so jus take my word for it)&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Well all that changed with &lt;a href="http://in.rediff.com/movies/2004/oct/04rajni.htm"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Chandramukhi&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Rajni's previous release earlier this year.There are glaring holes in Chandramukhi, technically and logically, but the movie served its purpose. It brought Rajnikanth back to the forefront of Tamil Cinema after the &lt;a href="http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/aug/26baba1.htm"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;BABA&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;/a&gt;debacle.Chandramukhi was entertaining and the movie re-established Rajni’s status as the box-office Baadhshah of the South Indian Film Industry.&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Rajni’s earlier release, BABA flopped. Well I don’t understand that! &lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Let me explain..BABA was nothing but what Rajni believes (he actually believes that he is the son of God..im not even kidding you folks…the dude believes that he is a Yogi or something) and he wanted to spread the message of Religion/Faith to all the people.&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/rajini_himalaya.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/rajini_himalaya.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;         &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The masses rejected it. But when you think about it, BABA and Chandramukhi are not much different. In BABA, Rajni says that there is a 200 year old Yogi, still living a healthy life in the &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Himalayas&lt;/st1:place&gt; and he actually has a conversation with “Babaji” in the movie.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Whereas, in Chandramukhi he claims, there is a snake in a bottle, for more than 100 years, guarding the angry revengeful sprit of Chandramukhi .The snake happily returns to &lt;a href="http://www.webindia123.com/wildlife/parks/tamil.htm"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:placename st="on"&gt;Guindy&lt;/st1:placename&gt;  &lt;st1:placename st="on"&gt;Snake&lt;/st1:placename&gt; &lt;st1:placetype st="on"&gt;Park&lt;/st1:placetype&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/a&gt; when the spirit is freed.&lt;/p&gt;       &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;Now both of these events are fantasies, how did BABA flop? Well I think BABA was a failure at many levels. The movie had a decent story (by Rajni Movie standards) but the screenplay, dialogues where very patchy.Sureshkrishna the director, really messed up a lot in the movie. If you notice, you can make out that dialogues were improvised during the shot and most of that was out of place. That won’t happen with Shankar!&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;Anyway I digress, I think now, Rajni will have a opportunity to work on a Social theme after a long time. If you dissect all of Shankar’s movies, they would have a social theme.(Except maybe for Kadhalan) The film has KV Anand(brilliant cameraman/director of Kana Kanden) ,AR Rahman ,writer Sujatha &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;and choreographer Raju Sundaram lending support to Shankar.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/boss.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 289px; height: 182px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/320/boss.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;      &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I hope they don’t screw up. But again. its going to be real hard to screw&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;up with such a team. Folks , get ready SIVAJI is going to be a treat !&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;I wanted to post this yesterday (12/12/2005), marking Rajni’s 56&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; birthday but I could not. Better Late than never I guess…..Happy B'day ..Thalaivaa !&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6690/1801/1600/boss.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-113449844859588466?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/113449844859588466/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=113449844859588466&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113449844859588466'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113449844859588466'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2005/12/sivajiparaakparaakparaak.html' title='Sivaji…Paraak..Paraak..Paraak'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-113344941193851995</id><published>2005-12-01T09:37:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:56.900-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Weather Forecast - Business Plan</title><content type='html'>One of the few things that I love about TV in the USA,is the weather report.Sometimes, I enjoy the humour, the weatherman laces with the information he shares!(Heck...David Letterman was once a weatherman..)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway..When I watch a weather report...Its accurate..or atleast as close as Mankind can get to a uncontrollable phenomenon.Be it Snow..Wind..Hurricane..Rain..or jus a normal day , they guys predict some pretty cool stuff.When it snows they even point out the city blocks that are going to get hit hard.They give you the number on inches to expect ,the UV factor, which route to take the office, how to dress tomorrow ,what to eat tomorrow..okie I made the last one up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But seriously...Can you imagine the information they prepare for the commoner to gear up and battle against the mother nature.Fabulous.. !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The other day ..I was watching &lt;a href="http://www.sunnetwork.org/suntv/"&gt;SUN TV&lt;/a&gt; news at home....Da.Da(background music)......the weather report....So im thinking..awrite..India has come a long way in many technological and scientific arenas..the weather reporting must have improved a lot..from the Black and White India Map DoorDarshan used to show.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The reporter starts off..."Well...Hello Viewers..the weather sucked today..look at the people battling against the Rain..stuff floating in water..school were closed..and kids happily returned home..aftr they found out school was closed.."...and she continues the blabber on about how the day "WAS"....hmm...do we need a weather report to tell us..how the weather was..?? ..Hmmm I think we have a decent idea about that...Duuh...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What we need to know is about how the weather is..and more importantly..how the weather is going to be ??...The reporter in her 2 minute segment...spends about 20 seconds saying this.."and yeah...tomorrow..is propably gonna rain....it might stop too...but then it might not...good luck anyway".....HELLLLLLLO.....am I the only one here who thinks that this weather report is garbage ???&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I dont need to know how the weather was...tell me how it is going to be...Dont give me suggestions based on..ur imagination...base it on scientifc facts...dont we have one of the best Remote sensing systems in the world ?? what the hell is goin on...how many more years are we still going to speculate about the weather...why cant TV networks in India..spend the money and get the DOPPLER...TRIPLE DOPPLER RADAR...or something like that..and give us accurate forecasts...I think the networks dont want to spend that kind of money..for a lot of reasons..but I think the main reason is....comon..you guys must know this..especially in Madras...its either going to be hot..or very hot..or very very hott...or so hot that you thought that the SUN was jus screwing with you...Coz of our climatic conditions its propably not necessary for such a system.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But didnt more that 300 people die due to the rain in Tamil Nadu in the past 2 months....Is the rain like a TSUNAMI that we cannot predict ??? Coudnt we have saved those lives.. ???&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well..my business plan is this..Start a Weather Company in India..tie up with on of the local TV stations in the USA..and get their help with respect to satellite imaging..or whatever ??&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We need to have the "&lt;a href="http://www.gowally.com/wx/radar.html"&gt;Triple Doppler Rada&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.gowally.com/wx/radar.html"&gt;r&lt;/a&gt;" in India..Comon now..dont you guys think that the people would appreciate some ACCURATE..weather information about TOMORROW ???&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-113344941193851995?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/113344941193851995/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=113344941193851995&amp;isPopup=true' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113344941193851995'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113344941193851995'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2005/12/weather-forecast-business-plan.html' title='Weather Forecast - Business Plan'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-113206824384251738</id><published>2005-11-15T10:00:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:56.677-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Get a Real Job..for crying out loud !</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The Indian/Tamil news outlets have been dominated over the past few weeks with the headlines &lt;a href="http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/nov/11suhasini.htm"&gt;Court cases/protests/Arrest warrants&lt;/a&gt; on the people from the &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kollywood"&gt;Tamil Film Industry&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushboo"&gt;Kushboo &lt;/a&gt;-- the erstwhile demi-goddess has always been the the darling of the masses in Tamil Nadu.Not anymore! In an interview to a Leading National magazine, she made some remarks on pre-marital sex and how the 21st century Tamil woman has evolved.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The next day you see protests bursting out by pseudo-political outfits trying to gain publicity through this incident. These outfits claim that the actress has made derogatory remarks on Tamil women and women from our state never indulge in such "blasphemous" acts such as pre-marital sex.COMON NOW....grrrrrrrrrr...(Im controlling myself here)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now even if that assumption is true , who cares what Kushboo says ???? Its her opinion and she made a point about it. Agree or Disagree...That’s all. I am tired of these "jobless" people making this a big issue and pursuing legal action against her. They have asked her to vacate Madras and go back to Mumbai.(where she is originally from)Not only does this make for BAD news...its takes cops to control these protests, takes away valuable court-time which could be spent on more pressing legal issues.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Suhasini, another actress, voiced her support to Kushboo and apologized on behalf of all the Tamils , for her recent travails. Guess what, now these "jobless" people are gunning for Suhasini's head. Their arguement.."Who is Suhasini to apologize for all the Tamils?”....Hmm interesting point, if that’s the case. Let me ask these protestors a question. Who are you to protest for Tamils on behalf of all the Tamils? I dont remember an election, where people voted these protestors to be the moral police of Tamil Nadu.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Comon now. we could go back and forth. I don’t believe employment is booming in &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;. Contrary to media reports. I think &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;India&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; has an ever increasing rate of unemployment. Because if it did not...These people would have real jobs!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-113206824384251738?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/113206824384251738/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=113206824384251738&amp;isPopup=true' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113206824384251738'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113206824384251738'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2005/11/get-real-jobfor-crying-out-loud.html' title='Get a Real Job..for crying out loud !'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-113090644918139299</id><published>2005-11-01T23:30:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:56.502-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Super Interludes</title><content type='html'>This past week , some tamil songs have been on my mind.I just was not able to get em out.I was singing on the train..singing at home while I cook...All the time practically !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I wanted to throw out a list of songs.This list of songs has some of the best interludes I have enjoyed.Awrite here we go..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1.Song: Anbal Unnai Velvom.. Film:Three Roses&lt;br /&gt;KR , an underrated and unlucky composer.In this song , he proves his genius.Look out for the second interlude , when it starts with violins..turns into techno+violins..and ends with violins.&lt;br /&gt;Jus brilliant !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2.Song:Pani Vizhum Maalayil ..Film:Meera&lt;br /&gt;Classic IR song.My fav. singer SPB just walks away with all the honors in this song..But when the second interlude begins..you realise who's the boss..IR the great !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3.Song:Enakenna Erkanavae Pirandhaval Ivalo ...Film:Parthen Rasithen&lt;br /&gt;Other than this song appears in a Prashanth film....Everything is brilliant in this song.Second interlude again !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4.Song:Malaragale..Film:Lovebirds&lt;br /&gt;ARR's brilliant composition alongwith Hariharan's golden voice are only "accessories" when you listen to the brilliant second Interlude..Mandolin..Beats..what not ??&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5.Song:Kandukonden Kandukonden..Film:Kandukonden Kandukonden&lt;br /&gt;Well ,,I struggle to put this song on this list for two reasons.One is ..well ..If i had to compile a list of top 5 songs I have ever listened to ..this song would be in the that list...It is such a brilliant song..just cannot get better..But anyway..the second interlude..&lt;br /&gt;with a "Opera" feel is amazing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6.Song:Ninnukori..Film:Agni Natchathiram&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Read first 4 lines of explanantion for song 5...and..&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Brilliant work with the guitar and flute !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thats my list for now..Listen to these songs..and tell me if you agree with me...Ill be back with more songs !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Enjoy..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;PS.CAVS at SPURS tonite..Im pumped BABY !!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-113090644918139299?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/113090644918139299/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=113090644918139299&amp;isPopup=true' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113090644918139299'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113090644918139299'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2005/11/super-interludes.html' title='Super Interludes'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-113079070447945733</id><published>2005-10-31T14:54:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:56.337-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Does terrorism "Dampen" our  Spirit  ?</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Some of my Reader's would not know about &lt;a href="http://www.indiaexpress.com/rangoli/deepavali.html"&gt;Deepavali&lt;/a&gt; ! The festival of lights in India.This &lt;a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/hinduism.htm"&gt;Hindu &lt;/a&gt;festival, has grown more into a Indian festival..and I am glad that it is that way.I celebrate Ramadan..and Christmas so why not all of us celebrate Deepavali ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In terms of magnitude , its like Christmas in the US of A.People look forward to it each year and make plans around it.There's lots of food..fun..gifts and my favourite part "Fireworks".&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At such a fun filled times of the year came the news of &lt;a href="http://in.rediff.com/news/delhiblast05.html"&gt;serial bomb blasts in &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;New Delhi&lt;/st1:city&gt;&lt;/a&gt;...&lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;India&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;'s capital.59 people died..more than 200 injured. The bomb blasts occurred in a crowded marketplace in &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;New Delhi&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;. Well , an unknown terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the act. Their stance being "The world thought all of are dead ..after the earthquake in PoK(Pakistan Occupied Kashmir)...We did this to prove them wrong".&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My stance is more like this. I think the earthquake proved to be a natural stimulant to better Indo-Pak relations. and the anti-social elements just could not see that happen without a blemish such as this. After this incident, we go back to playing the blame game.Our external affairs ministry blames , Govt sponsored terrorism of &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;Pakistan&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;. Though sometimes, I do feel &lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;Pakistan&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; might have indulged in sponsoring terrorism, I dont think its them who did it this time. They have bigger issues to tackle on hand.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well leaving the politics out of this, I jus think of the repercussions of such a heinous act would be devastating to the human spirit. I cannot fathom the loss of human lives and the effect it has on their families. The festive season has suddenly turned into a nightmare for those kids who lost their parents.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Indian Government has to toughen up..be pro-active to weed out these terror cells within the country. I am sure no-terrorist bought a round trip ticket to come to &lt;st1:country-region st="on"&gt;India&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; and bomb &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;New Delhi&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt;. These demons are at home ..and we need to take'em out !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All this leads to my title, do these bomb blasts dampen our spirit ? Do we move on ? or should we ? Natural disasters are a different animal...we have NO choice but to move on. Its not like we could have done anything to avoid "Katrina" or the "Tsunami" ..sure we could have been better prepared. but we really cannot prepare for something thats not under our control coz of the unknowns. I even cracked up for a moment. hearing this..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Conversation between a two guys in  &lt;st1:city st="on"&gt;&lt;st1:place st="on"&gt;New   Orleans&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:city&gt; b4 Katrina Strikes:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Guy1: Dude..arent you evacuating...the hurricane is going to hit tomorrow?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Guy2: No...Im staying home...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Guy 1: What makes you think you would survive this ??&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Guy 2: GOD..will take care of me  !!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Guy 1 :WHAT..... WHO DO YOU THINK ..IS SENDING THE FREAKING HURRICANE ???&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Unlike..this situation..God is not making people to kill other people...at least in my book..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If its different in your book...I think you need a new book !&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-113079070447945733?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/113079070447945733/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=113079070447945733&amp;isPopup=true' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113079070447945733'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113079070447945733'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2005/10/does-terrorism-dampen-our-spirit.html' title='Does terrorism &quot;Dampen&quot; our  Spirit  ?'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-113061590830403816</id><published>2005-10-29T15:41:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:56.159-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Professional Basketball  - The NBA</title><content type='html'>Off all the American Sports , Professional Basketball a.ka NBA is my favourite.This fascination started not after I moved to the US but even when I was in India.It was 1996 and ESPN&amp;STAR Sports , I guess were scrambling for programming , so they regularly showed NBA games.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It was easy to become a fan of the NBA in 1996.The reason would be two words..Michael Jordan.The greatest player ever to have ever played basketball ! I could go on and on about him but no matter what I say , it would not do justice to &lt;a href="http://www.jumpman23.com"&gt;Jumpman23.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After being a &lt;a href="http://www.nba.com/bulls"&gt;BULLS&lt;/a&gt; fan for obvious reasons all those years , I eventually became a &lt;a href="http://www.nba.com/cavs"&gt;CAVS &lt;/a&gt;fan , the local team of Cleveland.Let me be honest , being a CAVS fan is not easy.They literally sucked real bad during those years 2000-2002.But things changed and Goddess Luck smiled on the "Mistake on the Lake" , by presenting LebronJames as our No.1 pick in the year's draft.LBJ as he is called changed Professional Basketball in Cleveland.A tremendously gifted player , James , ascended to the Rookie of the Year honors.His second year was even better , averaging , 27 pts 7 assists 7 rebounds , LBJ equalled a feat only 5 players have done earlier in the league.But there was a glaring omission.No Playoffs - both the years.As good as Lebron was , he needed help.Well he has help now , the CAVS under a new owner , &lt;a href="http://www.quickenloans.com"&gt;Dan Gilbert&lt;/a&gt; went on a shopping spree  during the offseason  and landed  Larry Hughes ,Damon Jones , Donyell Marshall and Alan Henderson.James has help now .No more excuses , CAVS would or rather should be in the Playoffs this  season.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As a CAVS fan , thats what I hope for , that what I dream about every day , every night.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-113061590830403816?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/113061590830403816/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=113061590830403816&amp;isPopup=true' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113061590830403816'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113061590830403816'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2005/10/professional-basketball-nba.html' title='Professional Basketball  - The NBA'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18413583.post-113054277487360151</id><published>2005-10-28T19:31:00.000-04:00</published><updated>2006-11-12T17:53:55.746-05:00</updated><title type='text'>First Shot</title><content type='html'>&lt;span id="misp_compose_1" class="hm"&gt;Awrite&lt;/span&gt;..This is really weird.I have never..and I mean never written anything that I have not been forced to write ! Let me explain..Except for tests,exams in school and reports,documents at work , I have never written anything.Its not something that I am proud about , but I &lt;span id="misp_compose_2" class="hm"&gt;jus&lt;/span&gt; wanted to make it clear , that &lt;span id="misp_compose_3" class="hm"&gt;Im&lt;/span&gt; not going to be very good at this .&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; But ...&lt;span id="misp_compose_4" class="hm"&gt;Im&lt;/span&gt; taking up the challenge.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; A lot of my good Friends write blogs and I have enjoyed their articles.Got me thinking , I always have something to say , Why don't I start writing it.Anyway , Well you might be wondering , what I might be writing about.Well , there are a lot of things , I am passionate about - Music , Movies , Media , Politics , Current Affairs and SPORTS.So its going to be a mixture of all of the above , But more importantly it's going to be fun.For me the writer and you the reader ,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; So Fasten your Seat belts - Ooh Sorry , &lt;span id="misp_compose_8" class="hm"&gt;Im&lt;/span&gt; already being cliche'...Just chill ..Later, &lt;span id="misp_compose_9" class="hm"&gt;Ya'll&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18413583-113054277487360151?l=vettimokkai.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/feeds/113054277487360151/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18413583&amp;postID=113054277487360151&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113054277487360151'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/18413583/posts/default/113054277487360151'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://vettimokkai.blogspot.com/2005/10/first-shot.html' title='First Shot'/><author><name>Sayee</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05580237569405608802</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
