Saturday, August 30, 2008

Top 10 songs in Tamizh

1. Ippave , Ippave (Raman Thediye Seethai)

2. mazhai Nindra ( Raman Thediya Seethai)

3. Vanathai ( Raman Thediye Seethai)

VS hand picks me and drags me to heaven. Amazing melodies, honey-soaked ones !

4. I Miss You da ( Sakarakatti)
If at all there is a composer who can create wonders with a relatively weak tune, its our ARR !
Just feel the orchestration !

5.Kanavilae ( Nepaali)
If im going to remember srikanth deva , it is going to be for this song. Aptly aided by the picturisation, chemistry of the bharath-meera and physics of meera !

6.Aei ..Unnidam (Chakrvuyham)
KR , my man never falters with haunting melodies !

7.ABhinayam Kattukindra (Uyilion Oosai)
I approached Uyilin oosai with some indifference( yeah man , MU KA script directed by unknown has to be a bad) , but was plesantly surprised by this number( and other carnatic numbers).

8. Kadhal Devathai ( Thoza)
Zingy orchestration by Premji ! Thankfully i saw the picturisation much later.

9.Mukunta Mukunta (Dasavatharam)
Himesh , at his best in tamizh .

10.Kananakku enna (Dhanam)
Yet another semi classic in the league of Kaatril varum geethame !

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Delegation

Everybody knows what delegation is .Your delegate your work for many reasons varying from laziness to personal effectiveness. The output of delegation depends on the activity delegated, the preparation for delegation,the skill of the person delegated. By preparation i mean , the inputs you give to the delegated person , the context you establish for him to do the work.

Apart from these factors , i found few other factors affecting delegation. There will be some cases where you have to delegate the responsibility but you haven't done it for some reason. Esp if you are a pure project manager with less technological background) , this applies to you . Pure Project managers feel the insecurity to deal with colleagues who are sound techies. As a result , they tend to take up an activity which ideally would need some technical coordination. Half way through, they realize that they can't move an inch in that activity because there is so much dependency and experience in technical things required to complete an activity.This results in a claustrophobic environment where you feel trapped.

The better thing would be to delegate to a person who can do this . You can monitor the progress of the activity and provide inputs of what you expect out of this work.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Part of the Problem !



When i was in my early years of my IT job, there used to be a forward which was supposed to illustrate the difference between being a part of the problem and being a part of the solution. The story goes like this -> US and then USSR were in a race to invent a pen that would work even in zero gravity . USA used the latest techniques to invent an ink that worked, while USSR just used a pencil to write in space ! This was given as an example , where US was thinking about the problem and not the solution.

To put it bluntly, this example sucks big time. Not only is this example bad, but also is inappropriate. The above example at best could have been fit for lateral or concept-fan thinking , popularized by edward de bono. Concept-fan , because instead of asking ' Whats the ink that would work in a zero gravity?' , the russians asked ' what is that which would help me write in space '?

Being a part of problem , i believe is something else and i felt it quite recently. Recently it so happened that one of the servers that my Tech support manages was shut down without any prior notice. Due to this , we did lose couple of days as the App servers got corrupted. Now the problem is two-fold ,

1) How do i compensate for the days lost ?

2) How do i solve this problem in future ? Who can solve this ?

But the problem became multi-fold , when somehow , without my conscious effort my mind started pondering over other things . Im not the reason for the problem in the first place and im just supposed to solve the problem by assigning it to a competent fellow. But , what happened is this -> I approached the issue with a perception of ' Im responsible for everything and i made a mistake ' . As a result , all the interactions i had with the team members were tainted by this perception . I failed to think to solve the problem , but started thinking about how my supervisors would assess me . So apart from the original problem , my mind augumented it with its own , due to its desires, perceptions, fears , feelings , past impressions . In the end , the problem became bigger and i was part of the problem .

Plain stupid !

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Satyam - True expectations

I was never a big fan of Vishal , but never had a problem with his movies. His choice of scripts is impressive , he knows his boundaries and makes sure the scripts he chooses is within that . He never had a flop ( yeah , all of them made money ) , never had an opportunity to mouth over the top dialogues .

WHen he announced that he was doing a police man , i did chuckle a bit , but his six pack did shut my mouth a bit . I was sure that the mixture of technical crew and script wouldn't let his convictions down , but his vocal chord sometimes does. Hope he modifies and modulates his voice call to be frequently spoken about in FMs :))

Sathyam has nayantara , whose dress budget seem to spiral downward and a prem gi who doesnt disappoint. Songs by HJ had a lukewarm response, but i felt otherwise. And when a film booms , the songs too , with thords striking the right tone!

The pre-release hype has made sure that satyam's satyam release is House full 3 days before the release ! Let me wish vishal good luck - I don't want another vijay , ajith but somebody unique , atleast in choice of scripts.

The trailer does serve the purpose - its a commercial movie with some talking by muscles , be it Vishal or nayantara . It would be interesting if Upendra is given a role that commensurates with his salary !

Monday, August 11, 2008

Most heard song in 2007

This is my most heard song of 2007 !
Could'nt hide my happiness when i hear this song. From a composer who idolizes ARR but gives a melody like IR ! Uninspiring movie , star cast, box office down the drain .

But this song is a gem - the singing , the melody , the second interlude ! WOW ! Why dont you give more like this , Mr. D. Immaan ! This will make "KANNADASAN" proud !

You can hear it here

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Rajini - Boiling point !



Gjnani has literally lamblasted Rajini in today's issue of kumudam. I have love-hate relationship to Gjani's writings and a diffident relationship to rajini's views. Fans have reacted strongly here .I have read jnani's views and the reaction from fans . These are some of my view points . Both these reactions are due to the fact that you can't separate fact from feeling , opinion. These are my view points. All contrary view points.

1) It is true that rajini in some films, used to have scenes that gave an indication that he is trying to enter politics . Of course its the director who plans these , but not without a nod from rajini . But we never know whether rajini tried to enter politics and then changed his mind or if this is just a gimmic.

2) In the reaction from fans , they have questioned Gjani's mum over the glamor pictures appearing in AV and kumudam , while he opens his mouth a mile wide when it comes to the vulgarity in Rajini's movies . Probably a valid point .

3)In his post , gjani had questioned Rajini's integrity . If at all he genuinely feels to apologize , why now ? Because rajini has a 5 crore market in karnataka ? Makes sense.

4)At the same time, if you see this issue from rajini's perspective . He has done it so that the producers do not end up losing money for something which he did . This is also appealing ,but the perspectives are different from above.


5) Gjani's review of Kuselan looks Ok to me . He has stated his view of what should'nt be in the film. Whats the problem here ?


6) Gjani says that whenevr Rajini mad some comments on politics a film had released. I think this is very wrong ! Rajini said that JJ was dhairiya lakshmi - so which film released at that time.

6) Finally Gnani asks rajini to emulate amitabh - my request to rajini too!

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Six Thinking Hats - u can wear it !

Im don't think i had that crush on reading books - it was never a palatable activity , except for the Kalki's ,sujatha's novels. All these changed when my visited my boss' house. He was almost conducting an orchestra of books and had an experience of ' Life on Mars'.

Among all the books , i consider edward de bono books to be excellent. It is indeed a apity that a book on creativity is written in a linear, boredom inviting way . But if you are used to his ways of writing (better read Das Kapital by Karl Marx), then you have a stuck gold, provided you use your eyes and brain simultaneously.

One important breakthrough in forms of thinking is Six Thinking Hats thats very popular in lot of corporates. Even INDIA team used it , albeit nothing happened . You can't expect INDIAN cricket team to hatch out of their shellso soon !

The essence of six thinking hats is to have parallel thinking . Contrary to the brainstorming sessions where ideas are fought out , this attempts to have parallel thinking . That is everybody participate with one perspective at a time. If you are thinking of ideas , then you think about through that perspective, not about the disadvantages of ideas. The whole team does the same.SO as the perspective changes you think through that perspective.

I found it difficult to use this , but the concept of parallel thinking is very important to shepherd the discussion. Setting an agenda alone ensures nothing.

You can read more about edward de bono here

Music review : Raman thediya seethai - Almost an epic !

I listen to tamizh songs only from websites . My intention of buying CDs ended with my marriage .
But i have resolved to buy few CDs a year that is fully worth . The last CD i bought was mozhi.

Raman thediya seethai , though not as exuberant as Mozhi, does evoke lot of interest. Im not referring to Dj DJ song, the pig in the herd of sheep, although its interesting, if not in this movie. Raaja fans can evoke their nostaglia with enna pulla , with the composer crooning in place of raaja. VS ' marriage with Madhu continues beyond their honeymoon with Ippava Ippave with a ambient prelude and a timeless melody, interwined with superb orchestration.The same effect that mugam enna song had on me !

Kalyani never falters with VS , that too with a jatin lalitish prelude , Mazhai nindra gets it right in all ways . Nanba Nanba would ideally been true even if karthik had sung for VS, ample scope for his singing, except that its a short.Did they sing " Yezundhu nirkkum Yevu kanai?" - WOW !

Vanathai with zingy orchestration is cool and reminescent of manisharma's music. Vidyasagar did take me to heaven during the charanam.

I may buy the CD for this movie .

Score : 40/50

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Music review Satyam: truly Not bad

I would'nt say the sound track is bad. After multiple listens the energy of Ada Gada ,mellifluous chellame ,ambient en anbe are impressive. Premji is indeed cool !

But hariharan's bad singing and a song like Paal papaali in a supposedly sleek movie does irk me a bit. Neverthless ,vishal is a clever guy , the papaali song would be sandwiched nicely.

Not sure why they have labelled this as harri's worst .This is Ok sound track to me , which gets better on multiple listening, of course you get used to the recipe of Harris jeyaraj.

Only complaint aaradi kaathe could have been sung by shankar Mahadevan.

Score : 29/50

Mallepuvvu - The ramp goes up !

When i saw that Mallepuvvu had 9 songs , honestly i never got a 'high' feeling. I was more afraid of a composition of 2 melodies, 3 dappanguthus , 1 hero worship , 3 so so songs and passable theme .

Passable is wrong , the theme piece is indeed superb .The adjective finds a brother in the suvi suvi with effervesce orchestration and a parody " Bhava sings nice". The title song almost had 'timeless' passages , but it falls short of Niram pirithu experience , nevertheless its nice, if you can forget not so good synth that has become a signature these days in raaja's music.

Tippu singing in Raaja ,except for the "ithuvarai naan' number in some Z-grade movie never created any kind of enthusiasm to look forward. Thats further reiterated partially by the Lokam song , but raaja comes up with an ear- popping Hero Nonaechene , a song with subdued yet poppish orchestration - whatever it is , is a pleasant surprise .

Gajula and Chandamama, a song that would have been much much better had SPB sung brought my interest back the second time i heard , while Vasthava Naatho is melodious considering that Malathi had sung it , if you take into account the ear drum obliterator 'manmatha Rasa' :)

This leaves with Chirugali , a song that is totally belongs to the border of timeless classics .

First UO, dhanam and now this - this is certainly upward trend to an good extent , although still short of the timless classics he has produced. My last sentence is going to irk some sincere fans.

Score : 37/50

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Neeya Naana -OK



I have been seeing Neeya Naana for quite sometime. It has been a puff of fresh air in the domain of debates in Tamizh channels.The discussions are shepherded well , people given sufficient space to express their opinions. Generally these sessions are organized well furcated into different points of discussions. Gopinath does well to start with particular view points of individuals to general causes /reasons- This is no easy task to do .

But i have a few scratches regarding the program.

1. Most of the times gopinath is too over powering that guys mostly talk to satisfy him, rather than talking about their view point.

2. Sometimes, gopinath launches a personal attack against individuals that sometimes it is irritating.

3. Since it is Neeya naana , guys siting at one end don't have the space to accept other view point. There is no environment for that .

If you want to decide on how to conduct discussions , read this out.

Ram Gopal Verma 's blog

Im not a fan of RGV ( Ram Gopal verma), his emotional tone never finds an artistic lover me . But yes , some of his movies did engage me .

More than the film maker , im impressed with his blog- candid , honest , frank , blunt - all meaning the same. Fans of Rajni , vijay -> have a look at this.

RGV ' blog

Project Management - Rule No.3 - One at a time

Perhaps , quite rudimentary is this . But i see people ( yours truly ) go berserk when the number of tasks they need to finish follow an exponential equation ( and then comes down exponential) also .Most of the time i find that it is physically and mentally exhausting to a point that pranayama and 3 glasses of water techniques find an companion in trash bin.

Stephen Covey in his bible for personal effectiveness has a chapter dedicated to time management . Its wonderfully written with quantitative as well as qualitative analysis . Before you use the Edward De Bono's techniques to find out a way to manage time, it is essential that you read this book.

In essence, Covey says that you need to prioritise the tasks in four quadrants by classifying them as High/Low Urgent/Important activities. He says to focus on Very Important less urgent activities , so that you will get less "Very Urgent" activities. The missing link is to identify the external factors before hand that create the urgency.

This is a method. When you apply this technique or any other theory that helps you prioritise tasks , it is important to note that your stomach can't take a 29" inch pizza at one shot ( most of us can't) . We have to take up one activity at one time. Before you push this idea into the nonsense quadrant , let me add few things .

Taking up one activity one at a time doesn't mean that you finish one task then take up another . You will most probably end up having an egg in your face! It means that you complete a logical portion of the task, so that there is minimal dependency on you. You do a task and that is approved or reviewed by your supervisor / or you need to collect inputs from your subordinates , coordinate with other groups , process it , give them directions and track their outputs . This is bit abstract, but then the essence is that completion of a logical portion of your tasks is as important to negate working on different portions of different tasks at the same time . Else you will end up seening Mr.Rudran.

Vidya sagar - dark lion ?

The post here led me thinking about vidya sagar .

Vidyasagar's first outing that made us turn back was Jaihind . Esp the bothai yeri pochu song was something exhilarating . He found an ally in arjun and the duo gave some songs that are 50-50 . He ventured into mallu in 1995/96 and almost got a state award every year there .

He re-entered tamizh through dhill and followed up with dhool ,sathurangam ,parthipan kanavu , mozhi ,ponniyan selvan, Alli thantha vanam , gilli , kuruvi,thendral etc . Almost all of these movies atleast has a gem of a song which i enjoyed throughly.

VS is almost a 2nd favourite to most people. Most people like him , but do not like him sufficently to be the no.1 favourite . Hie melodies make him teh heir of Illayaraaja , MSV kind of melodies , though both of them had contrasting styles to melody . VS was sufficently eclipsed by rehman in the 90s and by YSR, HJ post the millennium. For a along time i was not willing to accept the VS melodies were superb , fearing that i might dethrone raaja from my mind , but then everybody changes - i too changed. My current list of Top 10s of vidyasagar , with no emphasis on ranking.

1. Engae engae from sathurangam - If Karthik were an female , i would have kissed him. Jazzized Vidyasagar , the saxophone seem to be an entry to heaven !

2.Udayathaa venilla from PRiyam - My first tryst with romance was accompanied by this song . What a song !

3.Pongaatru from MR.Madras - SPB , VS make this song mix with your hemoglobin , literally !

4.Pinju Mazhai chaaral from Varnajaalam - Karthik , vidyasagar never go wrong . Guess VS pays Karthik more for him !

5.Pesae madanthayae from mozhi - I simply hate mozhi - but this song , with a peronal mini tragedy in my life found an instant healing touch , so much so that i hate to listen to this song now . Not many songs have made me cry apart from IR/MSV's , and this is definitely one of them.

6. Adi Thozhi and almost all songs from thendral - If azhagi songs moved my heart outside my body , the songs from thendral made me choke my heart , esp the thandava kone song ! Pity that thangar went to baradwaj , although it worked !

7.Kannale kannale from Alli thantha vanam - Superb ! Unni menon is fantastic .

8. SHalla SHalla from Gilli - Surprisngly i didnt like appadi podu at any point of time. The charanam of this song is mesmerising , although the picturisation was too cliched.

9. Oru thethi Paartha from K.Mappillai : This was vintage VS , really !

10.Mugam enna from sabash - One of the gems from ARjun - VS combo !!