kirukkal.com

August 14, 2004

HmmM… Night?

Guest Blog #28 – Anand C

The title of this article caught me by surprise. The case that Michael Agger makes is cogent, even if he had to rely at times on exaggeration of the facts and ignore some rough edges to make his case (for instance, the fact that Praying with Anger, M Night‘s first film grossed $7,000 has *nothing* to do with anything). I would put this article somewhere in the middle of a spectrum, where one extreme is mindless icon-bashing and the other is a journalistic sincerity to preserve the essence of story-telling in film.

In spite of all its shortcomings, this piece does make one ask – “Is good story-telling defined by the sincerity of what the creator wants to say, or has it been reduced to saying what the audience wants to hear?”
August 13, 2004

Follow the Bloggers; No more monologues

There have been very few times when Bloggers have been noticed very closely. To be specific it’s only twice. The Salaam Pax was once. The second is during the recent Democratic convention held in Boston where 30 bloggers were acknowledged to blog about the convention. Even as the convention is over, the reports on blogger and their quiet vishwarup are rocking the net all over and this might be the breaking point. Bloggers from now may not be treated as a foster child of the mainstream media but as cutting edge cousins whom the mainstream biggies cannot fore go.

J.D.Lasica’s tech column in Online Journalism Review, lists why increasingly bloggers are preferred than the mainstream journalists, it is pretty clear that bloggers are getting their piece of the cake. Only thing, their share keeps increasing, exponentially. She also writes how this important graph called Inbound links: Who has the ear of the blogosphere? , show that even as more inbound links are towards the big brothers like NY Times and CNN, climbing down a few more, we can see how Boing Boing and Insta Pundit are evolving as believable news sources and how they have more inbound links than even Slate, Fox and others. Check the column for more on bloggers, blogging and other blah blah blah.

As Technorati CEO David Sifry says “The Web is not chiefly about a library or a news stand. You have to start thinking about the Web as this humongous event stream. The Web is a set of ongoing conversations that weave together into this new kind of omnipresent social fabric, . Thats the essential reason why the main stream media cannot make any more lectures, they have to start the dialogue between their readers. No more monologues, please !!.
August 12, 2004

Vasool Raja, a family meet and my weekend laundry list

Apart from the Seemandams, Kai murukku & Therattipaal featuring Nichayatharthams and mega Kalyanams, there aren’t many occasions when we tend to have a family meet. How about a family meet in a movie. Though the family cannot actually talk in length about which athai-payyan got wed locked or which onnu-vitta-chitappa got a golden handshake, the family can actually laugh together. Ok, Ok, I’m trying to agree myself to this with these excuses.

While the beach or a common house maybe the exact location for a family meet, someone has to prepare Pulliyotharai, arrange litres and litres of filter coffee and all this might actual end up in dozens of cribs and complaints. Hence, we planned a family watch of Vasool Raja MBBS. Two common grounds on Vasool Raja. Most Athais and mammis like Kamalhassan. Two, Laughter is something that we long for in this fast fast (!!) food culture. The plan is shaping out. Let’s see.

Who said Chennai isn’t happening? The weekend has more than enough things happening in Chennai.

a) Three movies that I’m interested, Vasool Raja MBBS, Kyun Ho Gaya Na and the Asimov inspired I, Robot are out this week.

b) The Hindu Metro Plus sponsored Life Style show is at the Chennai Trade centre opens today with Shobana featuring on the opening day. Hindu also has a eight page detailed supplement of what’s up on the show and it promises to be much better than the other life style shows in the city.

c) Lalith Kala Academy has a photography exhibition on the architecture of American roadside motels, bars and clubs. A promo on the television yesterday was cool and did interest a lot. These photographs have been taken over the last two decades clearly showing the growth in the ideas and architectural styles.

d) The Landmark quiz, one of the biggest open quiz shows in the country is on the 15th in the Music Academy. If you are someone who hates quiz, here is the program, just for you. And if you are not inspired still, I have no clue.

There goes my laundry list of weekend to-do’s. The target it atleast 70% of them. Movies can be postponed not the shows. Right.
August 11, 2004

Hey Goodbye Nanba!! – A Refreshing Dip

Blame me for the double standards. I’m one among the few millions who are hell bent to have no songs in tamil movies because they interrupt the story telling. But yesterday, after a tiring day at work I reached home when the whole of chennai was watching Metti Oli. Thanks to the stars and satellites, among the ‘n’ to the power 2 channels available, someone played Hey GoodBye Nanba from Aayitha Ezhuthu. It was enchanting to watch Sidharth and Trisha running around the beach amidst the dirty sand on a sunny day.

Starting with a top angle akela crane shot, the camera swirls down to land on Sidharth who is half lying on the boat and then it pans on to trisha who whistles as she wears those goggles. With split second, the shot cuts into the next one where the camera is half-immersed in the water and both of them lie on a canal boat with their life jackets. And as they dive into the water, the camera too goes down into water for a moment and comes back, leaving a feeling that the audience themselves getting dipped in the water. With the A R Rahman‘s music in the background so jiving, Shankar Mahadevan shouting his heart out coupled with Sunitha Sarathy, Lucky Ali and Karthik, Hey Good Bye Nanba is a delight to watch.

It’s throughly a refreshing experience especially for someone who wants to chill-out. Mani Ratnam shares his credit with the entire tech team, for the song’s picturisation was in tune with Vairamuthu‘s and AR Rahman‘s musical efforts. Should I still crib about having ‘good’ songs in Tamil movies ? Thank god, we still have songs in tamil movies, else we would have been bored with just the sub-intellectual indy pop. There are exceptions too in Indy Pop. Anyway, read the first line of the post, again.
August 10, 2004

The Hindu’s Editorial – Blogosphere Journalism

The editorial of today’s Hindu talks about Blogosphere Journalism. Being an avid blogger, I am personally excited about The Hindu writing an editorial on blogging.

Though the first few paragraphs are very formal and define blogging and it’s components. The last paragraph comes as a saviour of the editorial. That’s where they have put in their opinion about blogging. The most important being the probable acceptance of blogging as new journalistic approach. Also it’s been quoted that most international news organisations have started to have a sedate version of blogs in their websites.

With Hindu starting to approve the idea of blogging, we can probably expect a hindu online blog in the coming days. Probably. And thats a guess. Blogger’s get ready.

HmmM… Night?

Follow the Bloggers; No more monologues

Vasool Raja, a family meet and my weekend laundry list

Hey Goodbye Nanba!! – A Refreshing Dip

The Hindu’s Editorial – Blogosphere Journalism