Asides

Oscars prediction 2011

Had done a similar post in 2009. This is my Oscar awards prediction for this year. As always, these predictions are based solely on my gut feeling and I have not watched many of the nominated films in this list. So these predictions may or may not represent what I think is the best, and it’s mostly based on what I think the Academy would choose for the Oscar awards. You can tell me your list in the comments section. 🙂

Picture – The Social Network
Actor – Javier Bardem (Biutiful)
Supporting Actor – Geoffery Rush (The King’s Speech)
Actress – Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Supporting Actress – Amy Adams (The Fighter)
Animated Feature Film – How to Train Your Dragon
Art Direction – Alice in Wonderland
Cinematography – True Grit
Costume Design – Alice in Wonderland
Directing – The Social Network
Editing – 127 Hours
Foreign Language Film – Biutiful
Make Up – The Wolfman
Music – Hans Zimmer (Inception)
Original Song – We Belong Together (Toy Story 3)
Sound Editing – Inception
Sound Mixing – Inception
Visual Effects – Inception
Adapted Screenplay – The Social Network
Original Screenplay – The King’s Speech

Technology IS value-neutral

I happened to read this blog post by Alex Payne (CTO of BankSimple who formerly has worked with Twitter) that has his opinion on what Alec Ross, a senior advisor to Hillary Clinton said on Technology.

Alec Ross said,

“[t]echnology itself is value-neutral. It depends on how a government chooses to use these technologies.”

Mr. Ross said this in the context of US companies selling invasive technologies to repressive regimes. Quite obviously, that is a statesman unsuccessfully trying to defend the state’s wrong political strategies. It needs to be countered of course, but carefully or else they would get away with it. Alex in an attempt to counter Mr. Ross does that for all the wrong reasons.

I think we cannot entirely rule out what Mr. Ross said. First, you have to clearly define what technology is. Is it the raw idea/material used to implement/create a strategy/product? Or is it the end product itself that you call technology? If you are referring to the raw material/idea by “technology”, I think Mr. Ross is right. Only that he should have replaced the word “government” in his statement with “creators” or “people”. The raw idea that technology is is value-neutral until you intentionally use it to design specific products at which point you can argue about it’s neutral position.

Ironically, Alex’s reasons to call it value-centric itself proves he is wrong – “Technology is made of people” – made of “People”. Not “good people” or “bad people”. And the next – “Technology Values What People Value” – exactly my point.

And on that basis, I think the following definitions that Alex found for “technology” is fallible because, well, technology is value-neutral.

  • The process of human beings inventing tools that improve (?) our quality of life.
  • A particular tool from the above category
  • An industry or amalgamation of industries producing said tools
  • Dehumanization (only people who think technology is all about giant robots invading earth would say this)
  • Progress (not necessarily be. destructive technology could lead to regress)

And only two from his list seems to be proper definitions:

  • The future
  • Change

I think It is not the mere word of “technology” that Alex should have focused on if he was worried about how politicians or governments manipulate the technology in their own interest. He should have rather focused on the policies and strategies of governments to counter what Mr. Ross said. And the criticism should have seriously woven in those lines to make an effective counter argument.

Social media revolution?

You know, at times I feel that we are taking ourselves too seriously. By us, I am referring to the blogosphere, twitterati, facebook and such social media platforms. I do agree about the good things that social media can do in our times, but I think sometimes we stretch this pride too far. One recent example is the change in the ruling system of Egypt.

Many people attribute the victory of Egyptian struggle to social media. But I don’t really get it. Were those people who marched towards Cairo actively participating in social media? How many of the Egyptians who live in Egypt have an internet connection or a smart phone? What help did social media do that the traditional wall posters or leaflets couldn’t do in this struggle?

Revolution can only happen when people actively participate in it. On the road. Many of the people whom I have seen participating in such struggles or agitations locally have come from the offline socio-cultural groups. Most of them seldom use Internet. Just clicking on a ‘Like’ button in a Facebook page or RT-ing a tweet would only make it armchair solidarity and nothing else. It would be interesting to take the statistics of how many of this “I Support!” guys have actually went on street for any such issues. Just ask these social media evangelists to participate in a local meeting to protest the arrest of Binayak Sen, for example. The first question from them would be, “you think I have nothing else to do with my life?” or a comment like “our people are too much politicized and there is too much unemployment that people go to these stupid meetings“.The same lot would be eager to register their protest on other issues by clicking a Like button in Facebook or by changing their Twitter profile pic.

I recall this funny quote I read in a friend’s FB page – “I don’t understand how Tunisians got their freedom without me filing an e-petition or changing my Twitter profile pic!“. That’s how we have become a socially concerned social media generation.

Also read – The myth of Egypt’s butterfly revolution

Save the space, please

Aattukaal Ponkala - Railway station prepaid counter

If the above photo made you think that you were looking at an offerings counter in a temple, look closer. You are looking at the prepaid auto-rickshaw counter at Trivandrum Central railway station. This photo was shot at 6 in the morning on February 14th Monday, after a tiresome night train journey. I was running towards the pre-paid counter because there would usually be a long que there if you got down from the train a bit late. The prepaid center has two ticket counters and both of them would have long ques when trains were arrived. But this Monday, I found one of them to be closed. Not just closed, they made a temple out of the place that bordered carefully with hollow bricks. So the que at one counter went on to the walk/drive ways and the traffic policemen had to control the line.

This temporary setup was made by the prepaid auto-rickshaw drivers for their Aattukaal Ponkala celebrations. They had a photo of the Goddess, a lamp lit, fruits as offerings and most of them all, a pot placed at the forefront for money offerings (which is out of the frame on the left hand side of the photo above) from the travelers. Aattukaal Ponkala was still one week away.

I don’t understand who gave them the right to use this busy public space to mint money. And how come nobody talks about it or no paper posts a photo of this, because such looting in the name of religion and such gross misuse of public space are publicly agreed upon.

To all the girls I loved before…

The Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean a thing to me personally and I have never celebrated it. Except for one time when Muthalik and co. were out in arms against the couples in Mangalore who wanted to celebrate the day. My mode of celebration (or protest) was music though (check out the song “Let them sleep“). This year, I take the opportunity to recall all the good and bad memories of my boyhood, teenage and early adulthood crushes and infatuations. These memories, good or bad, have only added value to my life at the end.

The first crush I had was to a girl who used to come for group song practice sessions. I was too shy even to take a straight look at her and would put up a serious-about-music look myself. The group was a mix of senior and junior boys and girls and obviously there would be senior fellows eying on girls who spent too much time on talking than singing and they made jokes to impress the opposite sex. I, being the “good guy” was rather irritated of all these. Then this girl whom I mentioned would take a note of this and would ask the other girls to stop talking and start singing. The “good guy” was impressed that the girl focused on music and took a notice of my feelings. Later on I found out that she has an interest in literature too, which was an added reason to be more impressed. However, it was just a crush and I did not even know how to express it.

In my boyhood, there was another girl who used to come for music competitions in several stages. She was tall, lean, fair, had cropped hair and a very peaceful look on her face. I saw her for a few music competitions and there was something about her that attracted me so much. Perhaps it is how peaceful she looked. Or perhaps it is just that she did not have a giggly girlish thing about her. She did not seem to talk too much. And I did not know anything about her – her name, where she came from or anything. I just observed her with some kind of curiosity from a distance. I would even imagine going out together.

During the teenage, there was this girl from the local neighborhood. I had to help a team for Christmas carol choir practice that year. Though my gang of friends used to take a note of this girl, I never had a chance to interact with her. So there I had my chance with the choir practice. Occasional smiles and gestures were passed to each other and I could see her friend noticing the whole thing. I could see the girls whispering to each other, looking at me and giggling at times. I would do anything to impress her, would go to her house to call her for practice sessions and would make silly jokes when we traveled together for singing competitions. She was beautiful and I remember writing in my old diary at that time that “she looked like an angel in those white robes” when I saw her one day. That was probably the first one-way love affair but I was sure she had something going for me too. Probably, she wanted to hear from me first. But I, being the shy guy I was, blew off that chance.

Then came a pen friend, from a distance. We wrote to each other. I sent her a hand-painted birthday card for her birthday and that really impressed her. The inland letters from her moved way to heart-shaped papers. I would try hard to improve my English writing skills because her language seemed scarily perfect. That was the time I quit college and was working as a gold smith. She would insist me to continue the studies. And one day she gave me her phone number. I was earning very little those days, just about 600 bucks a month, but I spent so much of it on the phone calls. Scariest part was when she spoke English and I had a hard time understanding what she said. Then finally one day I went to her hometown to meet her. There she was! A typical NRI child, not so cute but all so modern. She came with her friend wearing a black T and jeans. I could tell from the shock on her face that she did not expect a short, lean, un-interesting guy who stood before her. Then came the worst moment. She said some of her friends would come along soon and she did not want me to tell them that I am her so-called pen friend. I just had to pretend I’m just a casual friend of her friend. She did not speak a word thereafter. I just sat there, humiliated.

Then came Internet and one chat friend. Again, phone calls and offline meetings. Then the first kiss which went just great. I remember sending her a cheesy message that evening which said “you made me feel like a man”, which was a rip-off from the Celine Dion song “you made me feel like a woman” from the album “Falling into you”. There was a personal record of a phone call that lasted 10 hours one day- from 10 at night to 8 in the morning. Many adventures followed and I enjoyed every bit of it. Everything about that relationship was too perfect to be real and obviously it began to break up. In an year and a half, we realized that we would be better being just friends.

Then there was one, who did brighten up each of my day with her words. A lovely girl. A good soul. A wonderful friend. By that time I had passed the boyish notions about love but was still looking for a soul-mate. I thought this girl would fit my life like a T emotionally but then there were many other things I considered and I realized it would be totally unreasonable. Moreover, I did not want to humiliate her a bit with telling her about what I thought of her. We remain good friends.

This valentine’s day, I remember them all. I thank them for the whole thing because at a time when my life had nothing interesting going on, the thoughts and dreams about them kept me alive. Some of them helped me learn a lesson or two about life too. And if you ask me, I would never regret any part of it.

Today I have a lovely wife who could tell what I am thinking or if my mood is changing by just one look at my face. With her I know that the tiny fights we have would only strengthen our relationship. And just a tight hug would do to ease out any problem between ourselves. To her, I toast on this valentine’s day.

Here is a song I had posted earlier which I think would be perfect for the occasion. Have a good day, everyone. 🙂 Oh, and about the post title? That’s a Willie Nelson song. You should check it out. 🙂

Wilson Pereira

Wilson Pereira is a short film by Dhaneesh Jameson and it has vocal narrations of Mohan Lal (Malayalam), Nasirudeen Shah (Hindi) and Tom Alter (English). The film tells the story of Wilson Pereira, a cemetry keeper. The story that unfolds take you for a mystery ride. Beautiful animation, music and voice overs by some very talented actors. Check it out.

Wilson Periera (Malayalam) from Dhaneesh Jameson on Vimeo.

Ente Sampathu – Malayalam Gospel Rock

Here is a song that perhaps you could call the first Malayalam gospel rock song. This song was written and composed by the 19th century Christian missionary and poet Sadhu Kochukunju Upadeshi and this version was done by Sanjeev Thomas on the vocals (lead guitarist for A R Rahman), Baiju Dharmajan on lead guitars (of ex-“Motherjane” and now “Wrenz United” fame) and bassist Keith Peters (lead bassist for A R Rahman). The song was recorded at music director Deepak Dev’s D Major studio. I like this song for the distinct vocals of Sanjeev and the treatment of Baiju and Keith on the strings. Check it out!

An year together

For me and Sony, today marks the first anniversary of a journey together. There has been a lot of learning in the past year. I learned that my wife is not the “perfect wife” I had imagined to be. I also learned that I am not the “perfect husband” that my wife had imagined her husband to be. And together we have learned that it is those imperfect notes which would progress to a soulful, melodious, harmonious symphony that is called life.

I had an idea of a ‘dream girl’ in my teenage, but my adult life had turned that upside down. I realized that it is not about two people loving the same genre of music or movies, same idea of politics or social life, sharing the same talent or interest in any form of art or sport, same age or education level or anything of that sort. What really binds two people is the love and understanding between them. The strength to be open to one another (and to conceal a few things for the common good ;-)). The strength to apologize when needed. These things could make them go many miles ahead. I realize that now.

So here’s to an year of two imperfect people being together which has become all the more exciting with the arrival of our son.

(The caricature was a wedding gift from Vikram)

Music review – Payyans, Living Together

(This music review was first appeared in Sound Box – India’s Premier Music Trade Magazine. Do check out the magazine from the nearest news stand.)

Movie: Payyans
Music: Alphonse Joseph
Lyrics: Kaithapram, Anil Panachooraan
Rating: 3.5 stars

People outside Kerala would know Alphonse Joseph as the guy who sang the ballad “Aaromale” in Tamil movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya, composed by A R Rahman. Alphonse’s plus point, be it in singing or composing, is his strong influence of western music and his ability to sing high-octave songs. Payyans, the new filmy album from Alphonse is also a satisfying album in that genre. The album consists of four original songs, an unplugged version of the opening track and three karaoke tracks.

The first song “Thennal Chirakundo” is sung by Karthik and Jyotsna. The song starts off with a beautiful guitar riff and bass. The good thing about this song is that it does not over kill the vocals with orchestration and each compliments the other beautifully. One thing that does stand out though is Karthik’s Malayalam pronunciation at parts. Other than that both the vocalists have done a good job on this song. The unplugged version of this song is also included in the album.

The music arrangement at the beginning of the second song, “Route maari nadakkaam” would remind you of the song “Oru koodai sunlight” from the Rajnikanth movie Sivaji. This is a trendy song and the vocals of Benny Dayal and Reshmi is a perfect choice. What irritates us with this song is its lyrics. Many of our lyricists seem to think that just throwing in some words like style, blue tooth, pizza, facebook, chat etc would make a trendy, peppy song. But in fact it is the lyrics that puts us down. If not for the vocals of Benny and Reshmi, you would have skipped to the next number right away.

“Katha Parayaan” is a beautiful melodious number sung by the veteran singer P Jayachandran. This song would steal your heart in the first listen.  “Doore vazhi” is sung by Alphonse Joseph himself. The song fits his voice and range like a T. It’s mid to high octave singing is a perfect fit for Alphonse. The orchestral arrangement is also very interesting with a mix of eastern and western style.

I would go with 3.5 out of 5 for this album. This is certainly one good work from Alphonse Joseph, the music director.

Movie: Living Together
Music: M Jayachandran
Lyrics: Kaithapram
Rating: 3 stars

When it comes to M Jayachandran’s music, what you would primarily expect is some melodious numbers coupled with a semi-classical number. MJ does not disappoint his fans with this album. His choice of singers for this album is also notable. There are 8 tracks in this filmy album.

Paattinte Palkadavil is a melodious dance number sung by Shreya Ghoshal. Shreya has done an awesome job on the vocals of this song. It’s admirable to see this singer rendering her songs to perfection, no matter which language it is. There is a male version of this song, sung by Vijay Yesudas.

Raaga Chandranariyaathe is a beautiful duet by Karthik and Swetha. Karthik’s vocal in this song is quite good. Saamarasa Ranjani is a semi-classical number sung by M G Sreekumar. MGS has done this very well.

It looks like M Jayachandran cannot do an album without Yesudas. He has spared a beautiful melodious number called Mayangoo Nee Sakhi for Yesudas. Yesudas’ voice is straining with his age and it is obviously evident in the songs which he have been singing lately. But still it’s amazing to see this man singing quite well for his age.

Kuttikurumbaa Vaa is a fun song that opens with a children chorus. Anila has sung this song and she has put so much energy and fun into the song that it requires. Sudeep has sung the male version of this song which is also an energy-filled version. Ilaku Naage is sung by Sannidhaanandan and Janardhanan. Sannidhanandan is the perfect choice for this folk-ish song.

To sum it up, this album is a mixed bag of folk, dance, semi-classical, romantic melodies which you would definitely like if you have always liked M Jayachandran’s music, but do not expect any surprises here. I would go with 3 out of 5 stars for M Jayachandran’s music for Living Together.

(Images courtesy: Metromatinee.com, Kerals.com)

Perks of brahminical upbringing

Hrishikesh Kanitkar has a calming presence on his surroundings. The way he bats, the way he leads his side out on the field, the way he stands in the middle, even the way he answers questions from the media. Everything he does is composed and collected, the mark of a traditional Konkanastha Chitapavan Brahmin upbringing.

From Abhishek Purohit, of ESPN Cricinfo. Offered without comments. (bold emphasis by me)