OLD, TIRED MEDIA: “The Associated Press reported that Saddam Hussein was captured yesterday by American forces.”
NEW, EXCITING MEDIA: “omg like kos reported that he saw on chris’s blog that john trackbacked to mike’s journal where he read about bob’s girlfriend’s brother’s cousin who was like watching Fox News (fair and balanced my ass! lol) and they said something about saddam i dunno current music: brittney cleary – im me current mood: corpulent”
Notice the synergy of information and the ease by which information propagates throughout the blogosphere.
The above para was from slashdot but was taken from an article here which talk about the fourth estate ragging the new found bloggies during the democratic convention in Boston.
Raj Kumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra in their interview to The Hindu today, opens up about the success of their cult classic, Munnabhai MBBS. Also there is a script getting by done by Raj Kumar himself called Munnabhai LLB which is a sequel to the original Bhai. LLB meaning Bachelor of Laws.
Having said that, they are very confident that Munnabhai MBBS remakes in Tamil and Telugu starred by Kamalhassan and Chiranjeevi respectively will also become hits themselves.
The same column on Munnabhai also talks about the review done on the movie by the British Medical Journal, which shocked the purists. The review calls the film ‘a riot’ and notes that Sanjay Dutt won a Filmfare award, the Indian equivalent of the Oscars, for his performance. It is peer recognition from the MEDICAL journal on a movie made on a wannabe-doctor-turned-don. Are the protestors of Vasool Raja MBBS here in tamilnadu listening ?
Here’s the “glass is half-full” view – This is not the first war he has flip-flopped on. He fought the Vietnam war and then fought against it (by testifying in front of the Senate). As independents say, he passed with flying colors the two biggest character tests for any American in his generation!
The “glass is half-empty” view – Whatever the war is, he has reserved the right to change his opinion based on the facts. He’s consistent about that. That’s better than what has now become a joke on late night TV – unchanged stands on WMDs, “Mission Accomplished”, and the connection between Sept 11 and Saddam.
Either way, the Republicans are left with a “There is no gold in the wall!” argument (a la the old joke), one that could be toppled in terms of “Aha!” value only by their ability to convince Americans with it!
What would it be to have a handful of Tamil greats in a meeting? Joy. A cherish able evening. So that’s exactly what I had, last Saturday on Uyirmmai’s first anniversary.
With more than a handful of writers felicitating the function, it was a book lover’s delight to have them on the same dais. The handful included Ashokamithran, Indra Parthasarathy, Sujatha, Jeya Mohan, S. Ramakrishnan and Mahendran. Having read nearly everyone’s writings, having been hugely influenced by writers like Sujatha and Indra Parthasarathy, I was glued to the seats as they spoke for more than 2 hours.
Manushya Puthiran‘s Uyirmmai publishers, as said in earlier posts, are doing a great job of publishing some great books of yester years of Sujatha and Aadhavan. For the last year, they are also publishing a monthly magazine called Uyirmmai. As this Uyirmmai gets completed a year, the magazine is now available online with the help of Sify.
The total audience included mostly reporters of small magazines, prolific writers, voracious readers and a few bloggers. I have to put myself in both a blogger and a bookworm shoe. One in a leg. Excuse me, for that silly joke. Chenthil, another blogger and a huge book lover, reviewer was also present. Coffeehouse Ramnath was with me clicking fabulous portraits of Ashokamithran. I did manage a click snaps too. We also had few Tamil bloggers like Desikan, Rajini Ramki (who resembles Rajini), Suvadu Shankar and Maraththadi Chitran. Usha, a familiar Ambalam chat invader was also present and she also clicked a pic with Sujatha as he was leaving.
Sujatha, who clicked open the dot com, though not exactly the dot com because of connectivity issues, spoke about the alternative news sources like blogs and he remarked that just like how he used to write handwritten magazines during his Srirangam days, people are simulating such magazines on the net called blogs. Also he comically discussed about his RDX information searches on the net and how it led to a highly dangerous shopping zone. For a Sujatha fan, I was expecting a little more of his speech while he just touched upon the continuous fights between the popular magazines and small magazines.
Indra Parthasarathy, the Kurudhi Punal writer, was to the point, very disciplined in his speech and kicked off the debate of the contemporary issue in running a small magazine. For people who are unaware of IP, he writes from Delhi and his political novels are very popular, his Kurudhi Punal being my favorite. Probably, it’s from here Kamalhassan was inspired by the title.
Ashokamithran, the writer’s writer as I prefer to call him was like an old man, seemed to be unaware of what’s going on around him. But as he came to talk, he out proved my thoughts and just went on to make the audience burst into laughter with this experience of running the famous Tamil magazine, Kanayazhi. His detailed note on How to tie a bundle of 500 magazines without letting loose? was nostalgic and very comical. Full points, Sir.
S. Ramakrishnan, known for his recent weekly column called Thunaiyezhuthu in Ananda Vikatan, put forth thoughtful points on the existing state of Tamil literature. He also advocated a document/site/place where an author and his works can be track backed. He said that there is absolutely no place existing where the entire author’s work in Tamil can be tracked fully.
Jeyamohan, the most aggressive/prolific writer of contemporary Tamil literature scene was positive throughout his talk. He said even though small magazines are places where good and bad writing were bred, small magazines play an important role in reflecting the society.
After the meet, I did ask Ashokamithran to pose a pic along with me. Also, I did walk up to S.Ramakrishnan and said that his bashing of Aayitha Ezhuthu on his Atcharam blog was a a little harsh. He replied that since the media was appreciating AE for what it was, he wanted to spotlight the original inspiration, Amores Perros.
Jeyamohan, who seemed rather aggressive in his writing, was very soft. I did manage to talk with him extensively about blogs and the bridge they build for a writer with his readers. I persuaded him and asked him to just contact any blogger or Sify for advice and it would be done with pride. Jeyamohan had his reservation about writing on the net and said that he felt bloggers usually come from a comfortable background of life and their writing always reflected the better side of life. He also added that the writing on the net has to be more aggressive. As I explained him the architecture of blogs, the flexibility in posting, he seemed a little convinced. And in future, if he creates a blog for himself, give me a big round of applause.
To have a function with such a cast is a rarity and I didn’t carry the pity of missing it this time. Thanks to deskian who introduced me to the familiar faces in the literary circle. Catch some more pictures on my lazygeek photoblog.
The hit musical Jesus Christ Superstar is here in Chennai during the weekend. I had seen this rock musical on Star World few years back on a Christmas Eve and I should say it was too nice for a musical. This was a musical by the Andrew Lloyd Webber. They producers of A R Rahman’s Bombay Dreams.
With Michael Bolton look-alike Jesus played by Glenn Carter, in the present version, dressed in pyjama and sometimes in jeans, it was one of the most modern adapted version of Christ’s story on the stage. Ian Gillian(Deep Purple) rocked as Jesus Christ in the original version.
The musical is staged in the Music Academy, Chennai on 6th and 7th of August, 2004. However, this is by another production called Hot Shoe Company(?) and I am not sure what kind of an adaptation this will be. Still, I’m curious, just for the Superstar song, to check-in and see the rocking Christ, live.
BTW, if you have the Vijay TV feed, do check-in today at 9 pm , for the Lollu Sabha where the Sagalai Vs Raghalai Santhanam plays a spoof on Virumandi. This show has come back after a long time and last week, the spoof on Autograph was cool.
kirukkal.com 