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Showing posts from 2006

Traffic congestion in London? I wonder, why?

How many can you spot?

Tribute to the musical genius

Ignorance is bliss?...NOT! ...atleast in the case of music. Its heartening to see someone write so highly of a true genius... Read Richard Corliss on the all-time best-selling recording artist who can't get a break in the States ... A R Rahman!

Tamil Music Videos ... enjoy!

I was listening to songs from Mani Ratnam's Roja ( which was in the Time's all time list of Best 10 Soundtracks ), when I thought of searching for the movie on YouTube... enjoy till the copyright cops catch up... Kaadhal website from Dheena New York Nagaram from Sillunu Oru Kaadal Paartha Mudal Naalil Uyirin uyire from Kaaka kaaka sutrum vizhi Dhalapathi roja roja Mazhai Mazhai Kaathlagi Chinna Chinna Aasai..(Roja) Kadhal Rojave - Roja Minnale Nee - May Madham Munbe Vaa - Sillunu Oru Kadhal Unnai Kandane - Parijatham

A master piece ...

A windows explorer crash...One moment of inspiration...One creative mind...A master piece is born...

Sand Animation

Sand animation is the name given to a style of live performance art in which the performer creates a series of images using sand; a process which is achieved by applying sand to a surface and then rendering images by drawing lines and figures in the sand with one's hands. To increase visibility and to add further artistic aesthetic, a sand animation performer will often use the aid of an overhead projector or lightboard. Watch this Sand Animation by Ilana Yahav ...and this one by Ferenc Cakó . It is a video of his live performance at SICAF 2003, in Seoul, South Korea.

Be creative...

While stumbling across the web, I came across this web site which lets you create faces - familiar or just imagination by bringing together many features in a nice pencil sketch. Check it out here . Also lets you save the face you have created on to the server and to print it.

Rasterbator

Thanks to Martin's weekly newsletter , I have come across a great tool called Rasterbator . The Rasterbator is a web service which creates huge, rasterized images from any picture. The rasterized images can be printed and assembled into extremely cool looking posters up to 20 meters in size. I can now go about decorating my flat !) The best part is there is a standalone version that you can download and run from your machine. (Needs .NET framework 1.1 installed, though)

Ping Pong ++

This is one of my favourite flash based games. Check out 3D Curve Ball! I have played it many times before and never passed level 4; but guess what; tried it just before adding this blog and got to Level 7. My score 21410. See if you can better it. Add your scores to the comments. Copyright: Curveball by Paragon Digital Media

Solve this . . .

I solved this puzzle some time back. I don't remember how long it took me to figure this out, but it was time well spent. Very engaging...try it! Objective: Everybody has to cross the river. Game rules: Only 2 persons on the raft at a time The father cannot stay with any of the daughters without their mother's presence The mother cannot stay with any of the sons without their father's presence The thief (striped shirt) cannot stay with any family member if the policeman is not there Only the Father, the Mother and the Policeman know how to operate the raft. Game help: To start click on the big blue circle on the right. To move the people click on them. To move the raft click on the pole on the opposite side of the river.

Regent Street Festival: A walk through Spain

The annual street festival in London's Regent Street this year had a spanish theme. Apparently close to 400,000 people came to find out what it was all about. We (me & a friend - Dinesh) had been interested in the festival following some pretty good marketing from few other friends, when we met on Friday for the London - Caracus: Caracus - Londres event in Trafalgar square . The festival ran from 12 till 8, so we made plans to be there at 12 and have a good time. But on the day, which was a sunday, the Onam sadya in Borehamwood also came up and we had to now juggle both. We did not want to miss either events. So, I called up Andres and told him we are going to be late and to expect us around 4pm. Soon after the sadya, Dinesh & me headed back to Central London. By the time we got there it was around 4:30pm. Regents street from Oxford Circus till Piccadilly Circus was where the festival was taking place. We went about from the Oxford Circus end, slowly working our way t

Glimpses of Kerala

While I was reading the news from Kerala on the Malayala Manorama web site ( about the antics of a particular minister ), I came across their travel pages. They seem to have tried to put together a set of videos on various important ("touristy") places in Kerala, listed by the district they are in. I haven't seen any such collection anywhere else on the web, so thought, it might be good to link it in this blog. Hope they will add some sound to the videos going forward, perhaps some commentary to go with the pictures. So, if you are thinking about visiting Kerala or would like to know what Kerala is all about, this could be a good site to visit: Glimpses of Kerala

Onam away from home at Borehamwood

I am too lazy to write anything at this moment other than say we had a short taste of Onam outside of Kerala in the distant land of Borehamwood in the outskirts of London, UK. Perhaps, Hilal will have a moment of inspiration and will write a big essay; I will then link to it ;) It was the first for all of us in our small group in the UK, even though most of us have been here for quite sometime now. Surprisingly, the event was well organised, much better than my expectations, especially the Onam sadya . The taste of the payasam still lingers in my mouth. It was also a pleasant surprise to see so many malayalee's in this little town. Without much ado, here are some photos -

Happy Onam!

Listen to some Onam music while you read: O nam, the principal festival of Kerala, is celebrated against a setting of lush green vegetation. This picturesque harvest festival brings with it ten days of colour, feasting, boat races, song and dance to the state. According to legend, Onam celebrates the golden age of King Mahabali, the mythical ruler of Kerala. The festival is celebrated to welcome the spirit of King Mahabali, and to assure him that his people are happy and wish him well. The myth goes like this: The Devas or gods were worried over the wise and good rule of Mahabali, the Asura king, thinking that he might become too powerful. They sought the help of Vishnu (the preserver in the Hindu trinity) to curb Mahabali's power. Vishnu, in the form of a dwarf called Vamana, approached him and was offered a boon by the king. Vamana asked for three paces of land and the king agreed to it. Soon the dwarf began to expand and with the first step, he covered the sky, blottin

What does it take...??

" Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. " - Dwight D. Eisenhower This BBC estimate speaks volumes for the futility of war... hope someone's learnt some lessons...

Notting Hill Carnival 2006

" The Notting Hill Carnival is the largest arts festival in Europe and in Carnival terms is second only to Rio. It’s fantastic, it’s vibrant, it’s full of life, it’s for everyone. " . . . so says the carnival website . Here are some snaps from Notting Hill Carnival in London this year...

Google takes the next step!

Google Apps for Your Domain is here. Integrating Gmail , Google talk , Google calendar and Google page Creator , Google [ NASDAQ:GOOG ] has launched Google Apps for Your Domain , a service that lets an organization use these communication and collaboration tools with branding and customizations. And this is just the free version. I wonder what will be possible in the premium edition when it comes out by end of year. Gmail already has the ability to customized and use it with your own domain - Be yourself . All you need to do is verify that email address for Google. "@googlemail.com or @yourschool.edu or @yourcustomdomain.com. Now you can customise the 'From:' address on your outgoing messages to display another one of your addresses instead. Use any alias or email address that you own, but do all your sending from Google Mail." This is good news for small companies, as now they can easily have their IT backbone with Google and atleast for the foreseeable future not

Punjabi letter...

Someone sent this to me by mail and I found it quite funny. Thats why its here...read with a punjabi accent! To, The Principle, Bela School, Ludhiana Sir, Binti eh hai ki ajj kall school vich dill nahin lagda te raat nu neend vi nahi aandi kyonki school vich kudiyyan ghatt ne, Jo hai oh sabb eniyann ajeeb ne ki dekhann nu ji ni karda.Te madama v koih khass patakka nahi hann.Hor ni te koch taan receptionist hi sohni rakh lavo ..taa ki nave bache admission laen leyyee motivate ho sakan . Aap ji da bahut dhannwadi howanga. Your faithfully, Boys Association

Animator vs. Animation

An animator faces his own animation in deadly combat. The battlefield? The Flash interface itself. A stick figure is created by an animator with the intent to torture. The stick figure drawn by the animator will be using everything he can find - the brush tool, the eraser tool - to get back at his tormentor. It's resourcefulness versus power. Who will win? You can find out yourself. Animator vs. Animation by * alanbecker on deviant ART

Woh lamhe

Rediff has reviewed the music of the new Mahesh Bhatt movie - "Woh Lamhe". And they say: Woh Lamhe's music is worth a listen For me, I liked the music, its melodious and is easy to listen to. My rating : [x][x][x][x][ ] Click on the image to listen to the music!

Ping Pong (Table Tennis) - matrix style

I have been fascinated by this 'art form', since the first time I saw an ad on TV which used this technique. Very impressive! Clues to its origin are found here . Now that you have seen what can be done in a theatre, watch these to see what the real masters are capable of... - in ping pong - in football I found one more... Also check out one of my older posts .

Softwares I use . . .

Browsers: Security: