Moving!

I am moving this blog to its own domain : www.stochastica.net. Installing Wordpress was a snap. Choosing a template was not. After discussions, arguments, exchanges of hate mails, and various forms of bribery,Lavanya and I finally agreed upon Quentin. I am customizing the template and and having a lot of fun in the process. So much fun, I forgot to blog!

From the "Did they really do that?" department

The Times of India and other newspapers selling editorial space. Brazenly and unabashedly. Link through India Uncut.

Yay!

I am done watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I am not going to add to the countless other reviews out there, but I have to say that this is a classic. The hype made me a little leery about watching it, (Lost in Translation, remember?), but any fears I had were blown away in the first few minutes. For the record, I would like to state that I would have liked it even if it didn't have Kirsten Dunst in it.

Syrupy Sunday (or shamelessly deifying Ilayaraaja)

I listened to Uravugal Thodarkathai again today. Who could have known? That a mere song could move you, hard-nosed and all that, so much. Every chord emotional, every riff tugging at heart strings. That malleable music existed, music that could blend in with whatever you were feeling. A frenzied friend by your side, dragging your mind through an emotional kaleidoscope.

Strangely, all that remains at the end is contentment; joy. And the urge to rewind, replay. A little overwhelmed: At this rate, I am never going to go through the hundred other songs that do similar things to my brain. And as always, shocked: That one man could compose all of this in one lifetime.

Now, this attempt at rendering the Thiruvasakam - an epic Saivite poem - as "Thiruvasakam in symphony". Sixty year old man, at the twilight of his career, reduced to desperately seeking recognition that he so richly deserves. I just wish I could go up to him and tell him that after one Uravugal Thodarkathai, the rest is all fluff.

PS : Realmedia version of the song thanks to dhool.com. Also check out http://thiruvasakaminsymphony.com.

Intellectual Property is for Losers

Poor Kumudam. They pay people actual money to go gather news. Like this interview with A.R. Rahman - a scoop by all standards, because Rahman can be hard to get hold of. They publish the interview, and what happens?

The smart guys at Cinesouth turn around and publish the interview on their website. Attributions? Bwahahaha. You must be joking. Since Kumudam takes a while to update their online page, it actually appears like Cinesouth did it first. Clever, na?

Aishwarya on Letterman

Boy, what a letdown. Aish, sporting an atrocious outfit and an even atrociouser accent. Croaking out the last word of each sentence with a funny sounding drawl... Indiaaa and Bombayyy. And then, there was this.: At random instants, without perceivable external stimulus , she would start off this routine that consisted of rolling her eyes at Letterman, followed by rolling her eyes at the audience, then capped off with some laughter.

A completely perplexed Letterman did manage to get a couple of questions across. And got a couple of ferocious sounding replies in return. Innocent sounding softballs ("Were you a young girl when you started modeling?") that got hurled right back at him, with an eye rolling thrown in for good measure. There was a clip from Bride and Prejudice with a wooden Aishwarya in the swimming pool - I heard something about some dude wanting to see India without seeing the Indians, and there was a whole lot of confusion over his nationality ... I was too busy wishing for the camera to pan downwards to hear properly. And no, it didn't.

Manish over at Sepiamutiny seems to think Aish was off color because she took herself too seriously, but methinks she was just being her true self: a bimbo.

Update : This review on Time tells it like it is.

In the lead role, Bollywood goddess Aishwarya Rai is pretty as a picture--a still picture. She appears always to be fluffing her hair for the next fashion shoot. She's got moves on the dance floor; and in the sumptuous and catchy score by Anu Malik and Craig Pruess, she smartly sells a few numbers that try to update the Austen ethos ("I just wanna man who gives some back/ Who talks to me and not my rack"). What she can't yet do is suggest a complex spirit behind the lovely façade

Urgent!

Aishwarya Rai, please get in touch with Drew Barrymore before you go on Letterman. Please.

Evolution (this time linguistic)

Sujatha writes (link requires registration) about how some commonly used English words have been transmogrified into Tamil, with bizarre consequences.

An "assault" job, is a job done effortlessly, nonchalantly. You can do such things only if you are unperturbed by the "tilers" - unimportant pretenders.

When you have a "feeling" for someone you are actually upset.And then the old classic - repair something and it is broken - you probably need a "drinks" or two to drown your feelings.

Another reason to let the language grow. A few centuries from now a Tamil dictionary will list these as Tamil words (with an quick little etymological bow to English...)

A few minutes of bliss

There is mere music, and then there is this. From the Master himself.
The music rendering colors for a blind girl ...

"When a gentle breeze caresses; colors swirl around in your mind
Thoughts come and go; each a different hue"

My stranded on an island song.

PS: Low quality real audio file for sampling. Go get the CD if you can.

Evolution

Newsweek has this article on evolution and "Intelligent Design - a critique of evolution couched in the language of science."

I am not sure why evolution made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist - the formation of life might have been a chemical reaction, but it was a chemical reaction that required a number of parameters to be just perfect before it could begin.

Science will probably be never be able to convincingly explain how this set of circumstances came about - it requires a little bit of faith. Literal interpretation of religious texts is fraught with peril because most such works are allegorical, but a little bit of symbolic license and you can reconcile religion with science. Like this article on the ten avatars of Vishnu.

Fuzzy Math

Fact : The Tsunami destroyed homes.

Fact :The Maharashtra Government is destroying homes that encroach on public property.

Conclusion : Tsunami = Maharashtra Government.

Saw this first on Dilip D'Souza's blog. Now the Hindu carries the same logic. And some people seem to buy into this - caring enough to write back.

Now without going into whether I think the demolitions are right or wrong, all I can say is these folks may have some trouble with the analytical skills portion of the GRE.

National Happiness? Gross.

In November, Bhutan banned tobacco sales. It's king, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, presumably signed the decree between puffs. Four months later, the king today wants to "cut down on his own smoking".

Excuse the hypocrisy, for it is all part of an effort to increase the Gross National Happiness of the country, which is a quaint way of saying people should learn to be happy - grinding poverty be damned.

Come again?

Insightful reporting from the Times of India:

One of Bush's strongest election planks was immigration, where he scored over challenger John Kerry particularly on the outsourcing issue

"Strongest plank?" Really? So the 43 total seconds that the candidates spent on immigration reform was actually responsible for Bush's win. How could I have missed that?