tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75418982024-03-13T11:51:04.931-05:00The GeminiThe Blogs of a true Gemini.
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"Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, 'This I am today, that I will be tomorrow' " - Louis L'AmourTwin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.comBlogger379125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1159412789793803182006-09-27T21:54:00.000-05:002006-09-27T22:22:03.123-05:00Off for sometimeI have not been in the blogging scene for sometime now. Other important things in my personal life have taken the front seat. Dont know if I would get back with the same vigor that I earlier had for blogging. Till then, please do check my favorite bloggers on the left hand pane.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1140793266388607372006-02-24T08:50:00.000-06:002006-02-24T09:01:06.443-06:00Life in GoogleplexTime had an online photoessay about life in Googleplex, Google's headquarters. <a href="http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/inside_google/" target="_new">Here</a> is the link to it. And <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettlider/sets/154249" target="_new">here</a> is how their Gourmet meal looks. BTW, Google employees get gourmet meals completely free.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1140239772545112772006-02-17T23:01:00.000-06:002006-08-15T11:31:23.380-05:00Coming HomeGoing to Madras next weekend. Would be glad to meet fellow madras bloggers. Send me an email, if you would like to meet.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1135747537053524082005-12-27T23:15:00.000-06:002005-12-27T23:25:37.073-06:00My Favorites from VH1's Top 40 of 2005In no specific order, here are my favorites:<br /><br />Black Eyed Peas - "Lumps" <--- Pretty cool song<br />Foo Fighter - "Best of You" <br />Dave Matthews Band - "American Baby"<br />Gwen - "Rich Girl" <--- Gwen and Eve are a success formula, remember their "Let me Blow ya Mind"?<br />Will Smith - "Switch" <--- Infectious<br />Green Day - "Wake me up" <--- Good Rock Song<br />Madonna - "Hung Up" <--- Magical<br />Kanye West - "Gold Digger" <--- Extremely Infectious<br />Shakira - "La Tortura (With Alejandro Sanz)" <--- Cool song<br />Gwen Stefani - "Hollaback Girl" <--- An alright song<br />Green Day - "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" <--- Another good Rock Song<br />Weezer - "Beverly Hills" <--- Good one<br />Black Eyed Peas - "Don't Phunk With My Heart" <--- Another good song from BEP<br /><br />Following are other songs that I liked (not on the VH1 list)<br />Akon - "Belly Dancer (Bananza)" <--- Infectious<br />Snoop Dog - "Drop it like it's hot" <--- Doggie Dog is just too good<br />Daddy Yankee - "Gasolina" <--- One word, Reggatone<br />James Blunt - "You're Beautiful" <--- Good song<br />Daddy Yankee - "Rompe" <--- Another of Daddy yankee's good song<br /><br />Time permitting, will jot down my other favorites for 2005 in Hindi and Tamil.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1134537721568004892005-12-13T23:07:00.000-06:002005-12-13T23:22:01.583-06:00Music Review - Rang De Basanti<b>Rang De Basanti</b>: Rahman is slowly getting back to his grove, after his abysmal music in "The Rising". That was a total letdown, this one seems much better - but just like the other songs of Rahman, one will start to have a liking only after multiple listenings. But in this movie there are some instant catch-ons, for instance, "Paatshala", a peppy song sung by Aslam and Naresh Iyer. The other version of this song (Paatshala - Be a Rebel) features Blaaze along with the other two. Blaaze is considered the Indian version of the famed, Shaggy. He actually is featured in a lot of college/hip-hop kind of songs in the recent Rahman movies (plus other MDs as well). <br /><br />"Rang De Basanti" is another interesting song which has a peppy-westernized-punju feel to it. It's sung by Daler Mahendi and the South-Indian singer Chitra (I had been to one of Daler's concerts in Madras and the host of that show was Javed Jaffrey. That's when I knew first-hand about the talents of Javed Jaffrey...he was able to keep the crowd in complete control with his jokes and anecdotes. In that he mentioned that Daler Mahendi should be called Dollar Mahendi - that was when Daler was at his peak). <br /><br />For some reason, there's a lot of craze for middle-eastern music in the recent times, and this movie does have a track to cover that area as well. "Khalbali" sung by Aslam, Nacim and the Guruji Rahman himself. The best thing that I like about Rahman's music is his extreme talent in using the right voices for a song. Like other MDs (read as Anu Malik) he doesnt sing a song unless it suits his voice absolutely well. He adds a superb touch to this song with his excellent voice. He has also sung "Roobaro" along with Naresh Iyer. Another good trend that Rahman pioneered is getting in fresh voices to the Indian music industry. I see a lot of fresh and strong voices in this movie, just like his other ones. Another musical marvel that Rahman introduced to the Indian music industry is Madhushree, the most recent nightingale. Btw, Rahman was the one who gave her this name, her name was Sujata Bhattacharya before. I started noticing her after her amazing performance in Tehzeeb. I am actually surprised about the fact that she's mostly remained in Rahman's camp and not many MDs are using her vocal talents. There are two female singers whom I absolutely love, regardless of how bad the song is - one is Madhushree and the other is Harini (Tamil singer). Another song which features Lata Mangeshkar and the Guruji Rahman is "Luka chuppi". A couple of years ago, I was totally annoyed at hearing Lata Maneshkar's voice (and the South-Indian singer Chitra's as well), as she was featured in almost all the songs at that time. But after hearing her in Rahman's music my view has changed a bit. He somehow brings a new side of a singer with most of his songs. Now I dont mind listening to Lata (or Chitra), especially if it's a Rahman's movie.<br /><br />On the whole, this is a good album with a mix of trendy and melodious songs and will certainly make a good listening in your car or your stereo system.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1134532046050078092005-12-13T20:56:00.000-06:002005-12-13T23:06:25.426-06:00Music ReviewsAmong the recent ones that I listened to, some of the good ones include Bluffmaster (Hindi), Barsaat (Hindi), Chinna (Tamil), Noori (Paki-Rock), and of course, Rang De Basanti (Hindi). Here are my favorites:<br /><br /><b>Bluffmaster</b>: Starring Abhishek and Priyanka with Ritesh and Nana Patekar as well. The music by Vishal-Shekar is really good. My favorite (I would have listened to it atleast 50 or so times so far and I listen to it almost everyday) is "Sabse Bada Rupaiya", a remixed song. The video looks cool too. It's got a cool beat to it, which gives it a 60s-70s disco feel. The next favorite is "Right Here Right Now", sung by Abhishek and Sunidhi. This is an amazing song with contrasting tones from the singers that complement themselves each other very well. The hip hop remix version has a little more coolness than the original version and is even better. The other good song is the "Boro Boro" song which has persian lyrics. It seems this song hit the Swedish No.1 spot.<br /><br /><b>Barsaat</b>: Another good song that I missed in my previous reviews is "Nakhre" sung by Alisha Chinoy and Ishq. The Music is very good, has a good beat and this is bound to be a favorite in discos.<br /><br /><b>Chinna</b>: Tholaidoora Nilave is a foot-tapping song that is beautifully directed by Music Dir. Imman. Another of my favorite.<br /><br /><b>Noori</b>: Listened to this pakistani rock band for the first time and instantly liked their song "Bol" in their album "Suno Ke Main Hun Jawan". This song starts off with a familiar Creed-like music, but as soon as you start listening to it, you will be immersed in the music. The one thing that I really like about the Pakistani Pop or Rock bands is their strong vocal skills. Most of the bands that I have heard (Junoon, Fuzon, Jal, etc.) have a good leading vocalist and their music overall is good as well. Noori's latest album "Peeli Patti Aur Raja Jane" is also good. The song "Mere Log" from that album is a slow song with excellent music. I have not listened to it completely yet, but I keep seeing songs from that album in my Cable. I get AZN channel on my cable and there is a Paki-music program on weekends (hosted by a very obnoxious female host, Aman) which keeps me up-to-date with the latest in Paki-music. <br /><br /><b> Rang De Basanti</b>: Since this is already a fairly large-sized post, I am posting this review seperately. Look above this post and you will see it.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1134004631530650692005-12-07T19:16:00.000-06:002005-12-07T19:37:04.633-06:00Sarbox Sucks!Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1133144746361354742005-11-27T20:13:00.000-06:002005-11-27T20:25:46.383-06:00Looking for Interns/Co-ops in ChicagoIf you or anyone you know (in Chicago) is looking for an Internship/Co-op position do send me a message with their contact details. My group is looking for Master's/Bachelor's students who can program well in C/C++. Also they should know the basics of Operating Systems and have a good working knowledge in Unix (preferably students of Computer Science/Engg or Electrical Engg.) This requirement is immediate, so if you know of someone, please send me their details. Thanks!Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1132637995729816662005-11-21T23:24:00.000-06:002005-11-21T23:39:55.746-06:00Rokr...Apple...Sabotage???While I was checking out my former colleague's <a href="http://ravigblog.blogspot.com" target="_blank">blog</a>, I found out about a news link to the story behind the ROKR phone. Did Apple sabotage it? <a href="http://www.theappleblog.com/2005/11/09/did-apple-sabotage-the-rokr/" target="_blank"><Read More></a>. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.11/phone.html?tw=wn_tophead_2" target="_blank">This wired article</a> is more insightful than the previous link.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1132553279759677832005-11-20T23:53:00.000-06:002005-11-21T00:22:30.316-06:00Movies + TechnologyMy Wife's Murder (Hindi): Stars Anil Kapoor, Nandana Sen (from the Hindi movie Black), Boman Irani and the Pop singer (former) Suchitra Krishnamurthy. Reasonably thrilling and a decent movie, although it loses focus in between. Boman Irani has acted well in this movie. An alright watch.<br /><br />Crash (English): Stars Brendan Fraser, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon among several others. I really liked the concept of the movie. The movie revolves around a crash and how that intertwines with the lives of the people involved in it. It addresses a lot of racism that happens in the day-to-day lives of the people involved in the crash. The movie's been directed very well, it reminds me of the spanish movie Amores Perres, which also has a similar concept. The hindi picture Yuva (Ayudha Ezhuthu in Tamil) was rumored to have been lifted from this spanish film.<br /><br />Majaa (Tamil): Stars Vikram, Asin, Pasupathy, Mannivannan and Vadivel. An alright watch, the movie doesnt have a solid story nor good music - both are just average and to a certain extent predictable and so-so. Begins ok, but then drags a lot.<br /><br />Back to my favorite stuff, Technology:<br /><br />Xbox 360 is getting released this Tuesday in the US. It's got a solid spec. and a good amount of expectation from a lot of gamers, let's see how it fares. Hopefully the jumpstart that it's got ahead of PS3 gives it an edge. And I was so glad to find out the other day that Halo 3 is going to be released sometime next year (most likely along with PS3's release to compete with it).<br /><br />DVR:<br />Got a DVR along with my TV and I truly feel that this is one of the best inventions in Electronics in the past decade. This unshackles you from the TV schedule and lets you record programs, at your will, that you might not usually watch because of the timings. Plus you dont have to watch the ads, you can forward them at the press of a button. And you dont have to wake up early on a weekend to watch your favorite shows. I think this will become a household item pretty soon.<br /><br />Wireless Keyboard & Mouse: <br />I am typing this post from my wireless keyboard and using my Tv as a monitor. How's that for technological advancement?!Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1131916092536068902005-11-13T14:26:00.000-06:002005-11-13T15:08:12.630-06:00Garam MasalaI went to the theater yesterday night after a while (actually seeing a desi movie after a while). Saw Garam Masala, an outstanding comedy picture. It stars Akshay, John Abraham, Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav, among others, and directed by Priyadarshan. Akshay and Paresh's acting is excellent and of course, nothing can beat Paresh's timing and dialogue delivery. I was laughing throughout the movie (so was most of the people in the theater), it's an out-and-out comedy, so dont look for a story in it. After seeing this I feel like watching Hera Pheri again to find out if this one is better than that (it's that good). John Abraham can do better. I felt that Akshay had the movie completely to himself and with Paresh's support it was a wholesome entertainer. The music is by Pritam and the songs are all peppy and disco type. I missed this movie in my previous post, but this one should be on the top. All of the songs are good with excellent picturisation.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1131846439073477132005-11-12T19:14:00.000-06:002005-11-12T19:47:19.156-06:00Hot new Hindi music releases!Home Delivery: The title song (Home Delivery) sung by Boman Irani and company which has a cool video to go with it is pretty cool. The Happy Diwali song (although not too fresh), is alright to listen to. Same with the Remix version of this song.<br /><br />Neal N Nikki: Was eagerly awaiting this release, after I read that this was being directed (MD) by Salim-Sulaiman(these guys did Kaal and several Indi-Pop songs including Viva, Asmaan, Style Bhai). But after listening to it a few times, didnt like all of the songs. Just a couple of them: Halle Re is good, and so is Neal N Nikki - Naughty Mix - although the lyrics in this song is complete crap.<br /><br />Shaadi No.1: Ayashi Ayashi is a cool song. Really liked the beats in that song.<br /><br />Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena: Most of the songs are good disco numbers. The latest trend in bollywood seems to be remix as part of soundtracks(it's become more popular with Pritam's songs).<br /><br />Dil Jo Bhi Kahey: SEL's latest, includes some good songs, including the title song and C'est La vie(has some fresh music). Others in the album are good as well.<br /><br />Aashiq Banaya Aapne: Himesh's come a long way. His recent ones are more peppy and has better beats. His earlier ones used to be the same old stuff that others used to make. He's now making a very noticeable distinction.<br /><br />Chocolate: Pritam's done some excellent compositions in this album. Khalish is a good listen with it's rock music base. Halka Halka Sa and the remix version is also good. And a good rendition of the all-famous Zahreeli Raatein. Mummy is a good song as well, although the lyrics doesnt make it all that good. Bheegi bheegi is a likeable song too.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1130811045914880762005-10-31T20:10:00.000-06:002005-10-31T20:19:30.153-06:00Happy DeepavaliWish you all a Happy Deepavali! Might go for a fire-cracker-bursting session early tommorrow morning. I went to a Halloween party, the first one so far, and it was pretty cool. <br /><br />And here's the short story for the <a href="http://sathishcj.blogspot.com/2005/10/funkhousers-law-of-power-of-press.html" target="_blank">Tag</a>:<br />I went to my car dealer for an oil change and asked him to check the air-leak in the front right tyre and after checking he tells me that I have to change the tyre and since this tyre is back-ordered and because my spare tyre is of a diff. brand than the currently used ones, he tells me I should buy three new tyres and replace my other 3 working tyres and use the spare for this one!!!Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1128315675009462632005-10-02T23:43:00.000-05:002005-10-03T00:01:15.016-05:00Home Sweet HomeI have been quite remiss on my blogging for quite sometime. Two specific reasons for that, one was the frequent trips to the UK, the second was my efforts to stop making my Apartment Leasing office richer every year. I had stayed in my last apartment for about 5 years, and it was time to say goodbye to that. Finally it dawned upon me that I should buy my own place, which is what I did. And searching for a home isnt easy at all. I thought being single might make that decision easier, but didnt quite get that feeling while doing the search. <br /><br />Moving from the apartment wasnt easy, either. Had to clear out 5 years of accumulated trash - many left by past roommates. Talking about that, ours was a nice apartment (and a lucky one too) we let all our job seeking friends to reep the benefits of the big city. But surprisingly, none of them got a job here, although they found a lot of contacts here that perhaps helped them get their jobs.<br /><br />Anyway, I think I should return back to posting more often than what I did these past two months. To start it off here is a review about the tamil film, Thotti Jaya. It stars Simbu and Gopika. Both have acted well, Simbu is getting better with every movie. Manmadhan was, in my view, outstanding acting by him. Some good twists in the story make it a watchable film. Wouldnt say it's sooper good, but a decent film. Music by Harris J. is good - especially on my Ipod! :-)<br /><br />Do you Pod? I Pod! :-)Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1127277981907831642005-09-20T23:46:00.000-05:002005-09-21T20:35:36.866-05:00I succumbed!<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2131/467/200/apple1.jpg" border="0" alt=""><br />I finally succumbed to the immense pressure and had to submit the 1-click button after thinking much about it. Yes, I ordered the 20GB Apple Ipod from Amazon.com. Amazon had a good deal on it and my Dell DJ Mp3 player's harddisk had crashed, making it a complete piece of dirt. I have had software issues with Dell DJ, but didnt expect it to completely stop working. This gave me enough courage to open out the mp3 player and see what it had. A Li-Ion battery and a Hitachi hard disk are the prominent ones (it could very well be an IDE cable issue or a software issue). <br /><br />I am trying to get my pictures from the UK organized, should put it up by this weekend.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1126833451092720812005-09-15T20:05:00.000-05:002005-09-15T20:17:31.100-05:00BackBack from the UK and again barely trying to catch up with things. Will post the pictures soon, but meanwhile here is some good news from Google. Google is out with a Search engine for Blogs. I was waiting for something like this for sometime now, and here it is. Seems alright. Check it out at <a href="http://blogsearch.google.com" target="_blank">Blog Search</a>.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1123994815673654132005-08-13T23:09:00.000-05:002005-08-13T23:46:55.726-05:00Movies, music and Blogger's meet in the UKPosting after a while...Lots of things going on personally, not much time to blog. Although I have been skimping on this new found hobby, I have tried to atleast hold-on to my other passions (although not abreast of them, as I usually am) namely music, movies and such. Got a membership to Hollywood Videos, and have been trying out their MVP special ($9.99 per month, 3 movies out at a time and unlimited rentals for the month). This deal is good for 3 months, and it's given me ample oppurtunity to catch up with all the English movies that I have missed in the past year or so. Saw "Blade Trinity" - an amazing movie. I have always wanted to see this, and it turned out to be good. Now I want to see the other two Blade movies. Also saw "White Noise" - an alright movie, then the Manchurian Candidate (liked the concept in the movie), I-Robot (cool movie), Star Wars 4, 5 and 6 and countless others.<br /><br />Have been remiss with the hindi and tamil movies. Just managed to watch <strong>Sarkar</strong>, starring the Bachchans and KK Menon. A very well made movie, even though it's based on the Godfather, it's an excellent watch. The protagonist, Amitabh Bachchan, portrays Bal Thackeray and there are ample similarities between the other key characters and various real-life political personalities. Some of the dialogues, especially the ones by the character Selva Mani, are quite funny and some of them by Abhishek's character, Shankar, is also good! Background score by Amar Mohile and others is well done. Although I didnt enjoy the songs by themselves, they seemed good in the movie. If you dont compare it with the Godfather, I think you will enjoy it well.<br /><br />About music, Mangal Pandey was a big disappoinment to me. Didnt see a Rahman touch in it. Although Rahman's latest tamil movie, Aah Ah, is very good. My favorites (in decreasing order of interest) : Anbe Aaruyire (ARR has really sung this well, suits his voice perfectly), Maramkothiye (Liked it after listening to it a couple of times), Mayilirage (Madhushree, my favorite singer is amazing in this), Varugirai (Hariharan and Chitra are both good in this), Thigu Thigu (Madhushree again is good). Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's latest "Dil Jo Bhi Kahe" on first listening seemed good. Havent completely listened to it yet.<br /><br />A second trip to the UK is in the offing and this time, have made plans to meet with <a href="http://www.route79.com/journal" target="_blank">Jag</a>, <a href="http://mdeii.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Anand (Mdeii)</a> and <a href="http://www.chakkarapani.com/graffiti" target="_blank">Chakra</a>. Any one else in the UK, if interested to join us, let one of us know.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1121135482691814372005-07-11T21:24:00.000-05:002005-07-11T21:31:22.696-05:00Back in Chicago!Back in one piece. Thanks to all the enquiries. I am safe and sound (a little hard of hearing actually, after the weekend filled with music in the bars and discos of Swindon, UK).<br /><br />Things I did in the UK:<br />Went to London on the weekend before the blasts.<br />Drove a lot in the rented Benz.<br />Met <a href="http://www.chakkarapani.com/graffiti" target="_blank">Chakra</a>, and had lunch prepared by him.<br />Went to Stonehenge.<br />Went to Bath (Roman Baths).<br />Went to Bristol.<br />Went to a lot of Discos and Bars in Swindon.<br /><br />Will write a detailed post later this week with lots of pictures. I was pleasantly surprised at several things I saw in the UK.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1120469088738488702005-07-04T04:24:00.000-05:002005-07-04T04:24:48.883-05:00In the UKIn the UK...off for another week and a half!Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1119766347115903962005-06-25T23:35:00.000-05:002005-06-26T01:27:31.953-05:00Tags!I have been tagged thrice and since I will be gone for a couple of weeks, thought I would take care of it atleast now.<br /><br /><a href="http://twin-gemini.blogspot.com/2005/06/tags.html"><Read More></a>.<br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><hr /><br /><u><strong>Music Tag</strong></u>(Tagged by <a href="http://parchhaiyan.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Neelima</a>)<br /><strong>Total volume of music files on my computer</strong>:<br />In GBs.<br /><br /><strong>The last CD I bought:</strong><br />The Legend of Bhagat Singh<br /><br /><strong>Songs playing right now:</strong><br />No Entry(Hindi), Virudh(Hindi), Chinna (Tamil).<br /><br /><strong>Five songs which i listen to a lot or which means a lot to me:</strong><br />Countless. But here are my recent favorites:<br />Don't be Shy by Rouge (Pop Album)<br />Thavam Ondru by Balram, Nithyashree in ABCD (Tamil)<br />Kannathil Muthamittal by Chinmayi in Kannathil Muthamittal (Tamil)<br />Nahin Saamne by Hariharan, Sukhwinder Singh in Taal (Hindi)<br />Piya Bole by Sonu Nigam, Shreya Shoshal in Parineets (Hindi)<br /><br /><strong>Five People to whom I'm passing the baton:</strong><br />Anyone who is reading it and interested in getting tagged.<br /><br /><hr /><br /><strong><u>General + Movie Tag</u></strong> (Tagged by <a href="http://chinmayisripada.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Chinmayi</a> and <a ef="http://toerag.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Toerag</a>)<br /><br /><strong>Three Names I Go By:</strong><br />Anand<br />aviswan1 (my office id - There were two Anand's in my team and we needed a way to differentiate each other)<br /><br /><strong>Three Screen Names:</strong><br />anandvis<br /><br /><strong>Three Physical Things You Like About Yourself:</strong><br />Come on, Let's not get physical! :-)<br /><br /><strong>Three Physical Things You Don’t Like About Yourself:</strong><br />Same thing here!<br /><br /><strong>Three Things That Scare Me:</strong><br />Loneliness<br /><br /><strong>Three Things I Want To Do Badly Right Now:</strong><br />Play Table Tennis<br />Play Volleyball<br />Sleep<br /><br /><strong>Three Places I Want To Go On A Vacation:</strong><br />India (The northern most part of India that I have been to is Bangalore. I really want to travel to all the places in North India)<br />Singapore, China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and all those exotic places.<br />The Gulf.<br /><br /><strong>Three Kiddy Names I Like:</strong><br />Have lots of time before I start thinking about those things.<br /><br /><strong>Three Things To Do Before I Die:</strong><br />Settle down in India.<br />Live well.<br />Travel well.<br /><br /><strong>Total Number Of Films I Own On Dvd/Video:</strong><br />Many, dont have a count. Could be in 100s.<br /><br /><strong>The last film I bought:</strong><br />If Xbox games count, Doom3 was my last.<br />My last DVD was the Rambo Series (a few months back).<br /><br /><strong>Three Of Your Everyday Essentials:</strong><br />Air<br />Music<br />Internet<br /><br /><strong>Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now:</strong><br />Shorts and Tshirt<br />Glasses<br /><br /><strong>Three People Who Have To Take This Quiz:</strong><br />Anyone who is reading this and is interested in being tagged.<br /><br /><hr /><br /><strong><u>Book Tag</u></strong> (Tagged by <a href="http://cerebralshangrila.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Cerebral Shangrila</a>)<br /><br /><strong>Total Books I own: </strong><br />50 to 100.<br /><br /><strong>Last Few Books I bought :<br /></strong>The Wings of Fire by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (My first Audio Book and it was excellent)<br /><br /><strong>Last Book(s) I was Gifted: </strong><br />Da Vinci Code<br /><br /><strong>Last Book I Read:</strong><br />WCDMA for UMTS :-)<br /><br /><strong>Currently Reading:</strong><br />Angels and Demons<br /><br /><strong>Five Books that mean a lot to me: </strong><br />The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (My All-time favorite)<br />Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown<br />The Jackal by Frederick Forsythe<br /><br /><strong>Tag five people and have them do this on their Blogs: </strong><br />Anyone who is reading it and interested in getting tagged.<br /></span>Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1119747604517365122005-06-25T19:59:00.000-05:002005-06-26T09:04:59.763-05:00Formula 1 2005 US Grand Prix Pictures<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2131/467/1600/IMG_0045.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2131/467/320/IMG_0045.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /> <a href="http://twin-gemini.blogspot.com/2005/06/formula-1-2005-us-grand-prix-pictures.html"><Read and See More of it...></a><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2131/467/1600/IMG_0047.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2131/467/320/IMG_0047.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2131/467/1600/IMG_0048.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2131/467/320/IMG_0048.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2131/467/1600/IMG_0042.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2131/467/320/IMG_0042.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2131/467/1600/IMG_0125.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2131/467/320/IMG_0125.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/12/2691/1024/IMG_00841.jpg' target="_blank"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/12/2691/320/IMG_0084.jpg'></a><br />I finally got some time to upload these pictures. As most of you would have known, it was one of the worst days in Formula 1 history. Although it was very frustrating, I was happy that I could see Narain drive. I, and several others, thought that he could have easily raced ahead of his teammate Tiago Monteiro, he was holding onto his 4th position more than trying to make a podium finish. Initially he had a 9 second lag with his teammate, but this gradually increased to a wide gap. <br /><br />About the race experience, to put it positively, I can say that I have seen one of the rare races in the whole world (come on, I paid 105 bucks for the ticket!). And see Narain, the First Formula 1 driver for India finish 4th and get his first formula 1 points. This is a (lifetime) dream come true for him. <br /><br />In the Flickr photostream <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/twin-gemini1/sets/501158/" target="_blank">here</a>, you will see pictures from the Prosche Race (this takes place before the Formula 1 Race), the Parade of the Race drivers, and several of the racing moments. This time there were a lot of Indian flags. Usually Indians support Ferrari, but this time I saw someone carrying two flags in the same flagpole (Ferrari's and India's), thats was really cool! Some of the cooller ones are attached above. For the rest go <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/twin-gemini1/sets/501158/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /></span>Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1119152973520914982005-06-18T22:49:00.000-05:002005-06-18T22:51:04.290-05:00Formula One US GP is here!<a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/12/2691/1024/IMG_00031.jpg'><img border='0' style='border:1px solid #FFFFFF; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/12/2691/200/IMG_0003.jpg'></a><br /> <a href='http://www.hello.com/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif' alt='Posted by Hello' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'></a>Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1118811628274243022005-06-14T22:48:00.000-05:002005-06-15T00:01:44.853-05:00Music Reviews - Recent Hindi SongsIt's been a while since I reviewed Music in my blog, so here are my views on some of them (I didnt write about all of them - If you like anything that is absent here, please do comment about it/them):<br /><br /><strong><u>Dus:</u> </strong><br /><strong>Dus Bahane</strong> by Shaan(aka Shaantanu Ghosh) and Kay Kay(aka Krishna Kumar Menon). Cool Music! The extended version is also good.<br /><strong>Deedar De</strong> by Sunidhi is very average. Talking about Sunidhi, <a href="http://www.musicindiaonline.com/ar/i/singer/5122/3/general/1/" target="_blank">here</a> is an interview with her. I consider the Tamil singer, Malathi, to have similar vocal characteristics as Sunidhi. Both of them are good in high-pitched and peppy numbers, whereas Malathi is kind of getting stereo-typed with item numbers and is not getting many good songs. She's got the potential, but needs a good break, I think.<br /><strong>Unse Poochein</strong> - Very average song, even the amazing Duet stars Udit and Alka, couldnt add lustre to it. Vishal-Sekhar could have done better, there have been thousands of such songs and am sick and tired of such songs. Skip IT!<br /><strong>Jaaniye Ve</strong> - Just ok, sung by Hariharan and Mahalakshmi Iyer. Mahalakshmi is a quite talented singer, although she is among the under-rated ones too. I see her once in a while in SEL's compositions and otherwise not much. Just bad luck, is it?<br /><br /><br /><strong><u>Mashooka Mashooka (English Version) </u></strong>- Cool song! Sung by Wajid, Nisha, Joy.<br />I thought the other songs in this soundtrack were just normal.<br /><br /><strong><u>D: </u></strong><br />Some of the songs are good, some of them are quite different (esp. the ones by Prasanna Sekhar - Is he the Prasanna who plays the Guitar and who graduated from IIT, Madras?)<br /><strong>D. Tox [Main Bindaas Ho Jaaoon]</strong> - Pretty funny song. Worth a listen. It's just got dialogues and some music in the background.<br /><strong>D. Rox </strong>- Reminds me of the Matrix Spybreak soundtrack. That song had been choreographed really well - walking up the walls and stuff like that, and that really stands out even today. If they do something like that to this song, it will be really cool. I like this song because it's got a good and decent foot-tapping background track with Indian instruments here and there and there is an element of thrill added into the soundtrack. Good work by Prasanna.<br />Other songs are just average.<br /><br /><strong><u>Paheli: </u></strong><br />Was a bit let down with the music by M.M.Kreem (aka Keeravani). Didnt like any of the songs!<br /><br /><strong><u>Parineeta:<br /></u></strong>Amazing soundtrack. Good music by Shantanu Moitra(Read an interview with him <a href="http://www.musicindiaonline.com/ar/i/movie_name/7875/3/music_director/291/" target="_blank">here</a>).<br /><strong>Piya Bole</strong> - Amazing soundtrack and beautifully sung by Sonu and Shreya. When I first heard this song, this is what I noticed: Saif starts off the song and then I was expecting Shaan to take over, but was a bit surprised to hear Sonu's voice. Off late Saif's songs have been done by Shaan. But later realized that Sonu can also sing for Saif and it seemed a bit seemless, although not as perfect as Shaan would've been!<br /><strong>Kasto Mazza</strong> - Beautiful Song, sung by Sonu and Shreya again. Didnt like the beginning of the song, but the song as such is very good.<br /><strong>Kaisi Paheli Zindagi</strong> - Excellent song, sung by Sunidhi. I like the free flow of the song. Excellent composition by Shantanu Moitra. I would like to listen to such songs in a beach setting.<br /><strong>Raat Hamari Toh</strong> - Good Melody by Chitra and Swanand. Chitra's voice seems to get better with her age. I used to hate her for sometime (maybe because I was hearing a lot of her), but in this song and some of the previous ones she seems very likeable.<br /><strong>Hui Main Parineeta</strong> - Seems like a very difficult song to sing. Proves the mettle of both Sonu and Shreya.<br />Overall, an excellent album. Correction to what I had written earlier, Shantanu has already MDed two films (Leela and Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi).<br /><br /><strong><u>Jaane Hoga Kya:<br /></u>Dil Dhak Dhak Karne Laga (Remix) and Dil Dhak Dhak Karne Laga (Remix)</strong> - Seems interesting! Good peppy dance songs.<br /><br /><strong><u>Nazar:<br /></u>Ali Ali</strong> - Good song by Shubha Mudgal. It's been a while since I heard her voice. A good Khawali type of song.<br /><strong>Nazar Nazar (Remix)</strong> - Good Dance number sung by Kay Kay. But for some reason I keep thinking that this is a song (and the Nazar Nazar song) that I have heard somewhere - Have they reused the lyrics or the music?<br /><br />Will stop at this for today (will continue with recent Tamil songs in the next post).Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1118293188262747662005-06-08T23:59:00.000-05:002005-06-12T22:45:03.523-05:00S. Gurumurthy's speech about the Arrest of Kanchi ShankaracharyarWent to <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=s.+gurumurthy" target="_blank">S.Gurumurthy's</a> speech in Schaumburg (a suburb in Illinois) alongwith a friend. The speech was titled "The arrest of the Kanchi Sankaracharyar". Although his speech was good, he didnt give any details about the arrest at all (the title of the speech was a gross misnomer - maybe it was just to attract the crowd). He just said two statements about the arrest and then said he cannot comment further on it. During his speech, he made some slightly inflammatory comments about the US (his influence with the RSS group was very apparent here), which made me think that I wasnt going to get out of that place without some lathi-charges! His oratorical skiils are good, he backed up most of his thoughts with statistics and he had a good knowledge about world economics. For someone else's personal account on how the speech was, look at <a href="http://desaraju.blogspot.com/2005/06/gurumurthy-chicago-talk-summary.html" target="_blank">Surya's blog</a> (he has something from the Kanchiforum.org).<br /><br />Completely Off topic, I have been hearing this very infectious remix kind of song (at 3/4 Bass and Full Treble with 50% Volume in my car - this 50% volume is very loud even by my standards) by <a href="http://www.envyroma.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=46" target="_blank">Rouge</a>, called "Don't be Shy" and I like it a lot. This song has already made it in a couple of albums, either as the original or as a remix.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541898.post-1118292106620025702005-06-08T23:07:00.000-05:002005-06-08T23:45:31.986-05:00Table Tennis<img border='0' style='border:1px solid #FFFFFF; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/img/12/2691/200/TT.jpg'><br />For the past few weeknights I have been pretty busy with Table Tennis. The madness for this game started at work a few months back, and we now play it very religiously. If it's 5'0 clock (thats the unwritten decency limit, any earlier than that and we might start seeing people complain, and eventually get the tables moved from the spot) then mobiles start ringing (with only a 3 second talk between the folks - Best of 5!), messages pop-up in instant messengers (which contain no more than 2 characters - TT). If these dont get the players up from their cubes, then it will be followed by challenges and taunts. We need to feed ourselves with this drug on a daily-basis, else the days feel quite empty! We bet on almost all things like the Xbox 360s or PS3s, each others' cars, next year's bonus and what not! But, sadly (sometimes fortunately) at the end of the game nothing really changes hands. It's all just empty words!<br /><br />This week, I have started playing TT at my friend's apartment complex, which is right next to mine. This is, usually, in addition to playing at work. The workout in this game (though not apparent) is really good, if you play a lot of shots (or smashes). During my last visit to Madras, I got an assortment of good bats (Butterfly, Kung-Fu and Stiga) which has increased my interest for this sport. <br /><br />Off topic, I am waiting for Parineeta to get released this weekend. The songs were really good - Music's by Shantanu Moitra (Raaga tells me that he is a newbie). Waiting for the next Rahman's music - Would it be Mangal Pandey or The Rising?<br /><br />Next Post: About <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=s.+gurumurthy" target="_blank">S.Gurumurthy's</a> Speech.Twin-Geminihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08855256932852765174noreply@blogger.com19