NEW ZEALAND ROCK!!!

I didn't want to blog about this again but it's just too tempting when the Aussies lose.. Imagine a team breaking the same record twice in a span of 4 days.. Amazing is not the word..

Aussies began brilliantly and set a huge target of 347.. Hayden scored 181 which is the highest score by an Australian.. I guess the Aussies will now begin to expect losing whenever they score more than 330.. Brilliant batting by New Zealand.. Superb whitewash..

Some stats about the match courtesy cricinfo,
1. New Zealand's total of 350 for 9 is the second-highest in a successful run-chase.This result also means that the top four successful run chases in ODIs have all come against Australia.

2.This is also the first time since 1997 that Australia have been blanked 3-0 in a bilateral series.

3.Matthew Hayden's unbeaten 181 has now become the highest ODI score in a losing cause.

4.The 26 sixes blasted in this match - 16 by Australia and 10 by New Zealand - equals the record for most number of sixes in a game.

5.The only two players who have been a part of all four highest run-chases are Michael Hussey and Nathan Bracken, and neither has done a bad job in these games. Hussey has notched up scores of 88*, 81, 105 and 13 - 287 runs at 95.67 - while Bracken has taken 9 for 218 from 38.3 overs - an average of 24.22.

6.Hussey has the unflattering record of having lost every ODI he has captained.

The Aussies were in enough trouble already and their next blow came today when Mathew Hayden fractured a toe.. This means that he also is highly unlikely to participate in the World Cup..

A Day that belonged to New Zealand.. A series victory that was well deserved..

PACHAIKILI MUTHUCHARAM

Gautham Menon's fourth outing as director comes with a lot of expectations.. After handling 2 cop stories (Same story told twice actually), he moves into a new territory, life of a middle aged man..

The movie begins with Sharath Kumar and his happy family.. His son's illness slowly brings about some tension between his wife and him.. He meets Jyothika then on the local metro, one thing leads to another and infidelity comes into play.. What happens from here forms the rest of the story..


The best part of the movie was Harris Jeyaraj's music.. 4 beautiful songs, but i wish they had pictured 'Karu Karu' properly instead of using it as background score.. I thought the 2 twists in the second half were good though none of my friends seem to think so..


Jyothika's performance was easily the best in the movie.. Sharath Kumar and Andrea played their parts decently but they should both learn how to emote in songs.. Milind Soman would've made a really convincing villain if not for the dubbing.. I still don't understand why Gautham Menon keeps using his own voice for villain characters..


3 things i learned from the movie,
1. Never talk to pretty lasses in the local metro (Madhavan should be told this :))
2. Never go to any resort on the ECR stretch
3. Never expect so much from a movie just cause it's by Gautham Menon


A mediocre effort which i would rate above 'Vettaiyadu Vilayadu' but not up to Minnale or Kaakha Kaakha..

POKKIRI

Supposedly the best pongal release.. Also marks Prabhu Deva's debut as a director in Tamizh.. I must say i expected more from this movie having seen Nuvastante..

Starts off in standard vijay style, with him bashing up twenty guys and an intro song which also features Prabhu Deva.. What follows is what we have already seen in umpteen movies.. Asin falls for Vijay.. Love blossoms with no reason.. She thinks he is the bad guy right before the interval..

How vijay proves that he is the good guy and how Prakash Raj is captured finally forms the rest of the story.. Typical masala vijay entertainer.. Normally one of the highlights in his movie is songs.. Only 2 songs stand out here though 'Vasantha Mulai' and 'Dole Dole'..

Vijay is the only one who stays in your mind after the movie.. Nasser, Napolean and Prakash Raj play their respective cameos well.. Asin's role is absolutely meaningless.. They could've reduced the amount of blood in the movie though..

Surprisng how a movie like this can get so much fame while a movie like Aayitha Ezhuthu is put down.. Anyway, If vetti and nothing else to do, go watch this movie..

A DAY TO CELEBRATE

I guess Mcgrath's expression says it all, yet another day to forget for the aussies.. The phrase 'yet another day' normally figures with an Aussie win but the tides seemed to have changed now..

Aussies began the day brilliantly by posting 336 for four with brilliant knocks from Haddin, Hussey, Hodge and White.. Hodge is becoming very consistent.. Shane Bond was excellent given how quickly the aussies were scoring with figues of 9-4-39-1..

I don't know what inspires New Zealand to play so well against the Aussies.. A great cricketing rivalry.. New Zealand chased down the target with 10 balls to spare.. Ross Taylor scored another century which laid the platform.. Supporting knocks form Fulton and Mcmillan saw the kiwis home..

This was a day to celebrate not because of the Aussie loss but their fall from dominance.. Cricket was getting a bit boring with Aussies winning everything they played.. With 2 succesive series losses and 4 losses in a row, guess all teams will be a bit more confident to take on the might Australian side..

I'm sure there will be arguements like Aussies played without 5 of their main guys.. Even if Ponting, Gilchrist and Clarke had played, i don't think they could've scored faster than what Haddin, Hodge and White scored today.. Lee is doubtful of playing the world cup anyway, so no point saying he'll strengthen the team..

This incidentally was the second highest run chase ever in ODIs.. The three greatest run chases so far are,
438-9 (49.5 overs) South Africa v Australia Johannesburg 2005/06
337-5 (48.4 overs) New Zealand v Australia Auckland 2006/07
332-8 (49 overs) New Zealand v Australia Christchurch 2005/06

Aussies at the recieving end all three times.. Hmmm, guess greatness has a way of showing itself.. To be a little fair to the Aussies, they have the fourth highest run chase ever..
330-7 (49.1 overs) Australia v South Africa Port Elizabeth 2001/02

This loss meant that South Africa move to the top of the ICC cricket ratings.. Hats off to them.. Like i said in my previous post, i sincerely hope the Aussies bounce back but not enough to win the World Cup :).. Wishing them all the very best..

GOLIATH FELLED??

We've witnessed some great cricket the last couple of weeks.. India showing what they were capable of, both at winning and losing.. South Africa coming back very strongly in the last 2 one dayers.. None of this was as surprising as to what happened to the Aussies..

Going into the finals of the VB series in grand style, they were expected to take the trophy home with ease.. What followed was absolutely spectaculer.. England was a team that was tarnished by media and cricket legends all around the world just a few weeks back.. Making a great comeback, they made it to the finals of the VB series..

Inspired by great batting from collingwood and a superb performance by Andrew Flintoff, England took the series 2-0.. Aussies knew they were in all sorts of trouble with Ricky Ponting admitting that aussies wouldn't make it into the World Cup semis if they played this way.. Kudos to England for a fine achievement..

The next problem facing Aussies was the World Cup squal selection.. With Gilchrist making himself unavailable for the first 3 weeks and Symonds in serious doubts of playing, the Aussie team doesn't look so strong on paper.. A surprise was the exclusion of Stuart Clark.. No idea what they have against him..

If all this wasnt't bad enough, nightmare struck Australia today.. Australia took on New Zealand in the first ODI of the Chappell - Hadlee series.. And for the first time since 1979, they were bowled out for less than 150 runs in a completed first innings.. Shane Bond just ripped through them.. What followed was worse.. For the first time in cricket history, the Aussies were beaten by ten wickets.. Hats off to New Zealand..

All this isn't very encouraging before the World Cup.. Brett Lee now is down with a knee injury and is in serious doubts of playing the world cup.. Ponting and Clarke are fighting a Back and Hip injury respectively.. With half the squad in injury or in doubt, one seriously wonders if this world Cup will see the fall of the Aussies..

Another interesting info about them is that the Aussies have been at the top position in the ICC rating ever since they were started in 2002.. If they lose the Chappell - Hadlee series, they will for the first time, move to second place..

A very gloomy month for the aussies but i sincerely hope they come back.. I surely don't want them to win the world cup but it wouldn't be a proper tournament without a really good Aussie performance.. We just have to wait and watch whether this Aussie team can bounce back..

STAR ROCK

The occasion was supposed to be Gau’s birthday but due to some late planning, we never did make it that day.. So, decided in college itself and made plans to go there the next day.. Chennai has too much traffic at seven in the evening.. Most of us got delayed and we finally made it there at 7:30..

This is the second time i'm going there and i thought the place was different from how i remembered.. For one, they were playing loud music (read 'loud').. The place was a lot more crowded than the previous time..

Each one of us ordered our favourite drinks.. Santy did too, he had Fruit Punch :).. The best part of Star Rock is the pop corn, chips etc they give.. It's free and it's unlimited.. They were playing great music, loud but great.. We were laughing for everything anyone said.. Great time..

The excitement for me was on the way back.. Was driving gau's bike and we were joking.. Turned to the right to say something to gau and didn't see the bike parked ahead of me.. Some idiot frying peanuts in the middle of the road.. I hit the guy's bike, just a small part of his bike.. Santy later told me i knocked off that guy's indicator and some damage to his rearview mirror.. Panicked and immediately drove like crazy.. Took some crazy turns and saw some guy chasing me.. Finally slowed down to see who it was and it turned out to be Santy!!! Sucker..

Went to the beach from there and laughed quite a bit about it.. Great night, super excitement.. I should thank my lucky stars i didn't have a bigger mishap.. This is to the man of that day, Happy Birthday Gau!!!

THE PRESTIGE

This was movie watching at its best.. The movie has a huge starcast.. Hugh Jackman, Chritain Bale, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Caine with Chritopher Nolan at the helm..

Just imagine starting a movie with Hugh Jackman dying.. Don't worry, this is no spoiler.. Sets the tone of the movie brilliantly.. The tagline describes the movie perfectly "A Friendship, That Became a Rivalry...A Rivalry, That Became a Battle."..

Two upcoming magicians, Hugh Jackman and Chritian Bale go out of their way to ruin each other's career.. Their friendship is embittered by one incident which makes them rivals, and this becomes an obsession to be better than the other one.. Brilliant story, an even better screenplay.. The last 30 mins of the movie is absolutely electrifying (literally, watch the movie and you'll realise why)..

I can't think of any two actors who would've pulled off the 2 roles like these guys did.. Hugh Jackman was just awesome in a role that needed to show obsession and loss at the same time.. I never thought Christian Bale was a great actor but this movie changed my mind.. He seethes evil into his character.. This is a pure evil vs evil battle.. Michael Caine and Scarlett Johansson are perfect as supporting cast..

Most credit for this movie must go to the director.. To visualise of a story like this shows his creativity.. Magic is no simple thing.. Christopher Nolan achieves it here with great applomb.. A must watch..

For those who want to know what the title means,
The Pledge : the magician shows the audience something that appears ordinary, but is probably not, making use of misdirection.
The Turn : the magician makes the ordinary act extraordinary.
The Prestige : the effect of the illusion is produced.

AUDIO COUNTDOWN

I've decided to start putting up a songs countdown whenever a significant number of songs have released between each rating.. So here goes my current list

1
Song : Thoduvaen
Movie : Deepavali
Composer : Yuvan Shankar Raja
Singer : Haricharan

2

Song : Karu Karu

Movie : Pachaikili Muthucharam

Composer : Harris Jeyaraj
Singer : Naresh Iyer, Karthik, Krish

3

Song : Unnakul Naane
Movie : Pachaikili Muthucharam

Composer : Harris Jeyaraj

Singer : Bombay Jayashree

4
Song : Pogadhe
Movie : Deepavali
Composer : Yuvan Shankar Raja
Singer : Yuvan Shankar Raja

5

Song : June Pona

Movie : Unnaale Unnaale
Composer : Harris Jeyaraj
Singer : Krish, Arun

Special mention to Unn Siripinil from Pachaikili Muthucharam and Unnaale Unnaale title track.. Yuvan and Harris have been giving some great music for a while now.. Hmmm.. Wonder if Rahman's reading this..

FIRST LOVE

This post is to pay a tribute that means so much to me and has been a vital part of the last four years of my life, Besant Nagar beach.. It all started in 11th standard i guess.. Going for a small ride along the beach after IIT classes. . The frequency of visits slowly started increasing and last year i'm sure i went there atleast 250 days (I'm not kidding)..

This has become my favourite hangout place.. Initially just friends meeting up and chatting.. Then came the craze of frizbee which died out due to some unfortunate circumstances.. We had made it a point to meet at the beach and play frizbee during every day of our exams.. Awesome fun..

Over the last year and a half, have started parking my bike in front of JP, sit there for a while and then go to beach.. Juice Point (JP) is a small coffee shop at the end of the beach.. Lovely place, guys will just love it.. Do go there sometime..

Niru has been the one guy who was always ready to come to the beach.. I remeber so many times when we've messaged each other saying "Beach?" at 9:30 and we would both end up going there at 10:00.. Or stopping at the beach at 10:30 before going to stay over at some friend's place.. Thanks for those wonderful times mate..

This place is not only about all the fun, it has seen my sad times too, which is what makes it great as a whole.. Whenever i am upset or angry, i immediately take my bike and head to the beach.. Go to JP, complete 'formalities', have a coffee and chumma sitting helps getting back to normal.. I've had quite a few arguments here (Some pretty serious).. But when you leave the beach, you still find yourself somehow calm and free of worries (atleast i do)..

The beach has given my friends and me a lot of wondeful memories, pity i can't quote most things here.. Gau will remember a couple.. Meeting up in the beach at ten in the night to discuss 'current developments' and its consequences.. Making Niru and me go in search of things along the entire stretch of the beach..

We've had a lot of hilarious moments here.. Niru giving his various theoris on stars and what not.. Each guy commenting about people walking past.. Referring to various directions to look in 'Machan, super hot chick at 3'0 clock'..

I could go on and on about this place.. I hate one part about me though.. Been going there all this while and i keep forgetting the name of the monument in the picture (Yes, it has a name).. This place has been integral to me for the past few years and i have no idea what i'll do without going there every week.. Hope TCS has a heart..

BABEL

Just got back from watching BABEL.. The title means 'A scene of confusion and noise' and that is exactly what the movie portrays..

An american couple (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett) go to moroco to spend sometime alone.. When Cate gets shot at, all hell breaks loose.. America immediately say it's terrorism.. Everything that follows is confusion..

Simultaenously, story moves to San Diego where Brad's house keeper takes his kids across the border for her son's wedding.. Here again, the cross border conflicts arises..

The last track is that of deaf-mute chinese girl who feels lonely and alienated.. A small thread that connects all three stories is what forms BABEL..

While each part was shot brilliantly, the thin connection doesn't have much significance.. Some sequences that were particularly well shot were the Boy going to the cops saying he only shot the ameriacn and that his brother wasn't at fault, Brad pitt's anger when the ambulance doesn't come & the scene that follows and finally, the scene when the house keeper is deported back to Mexico.. The finale with the girl willing to begin life afresh was also well written..

I'm now not sure what the Indian government uses as guidelines for censoring.. If the level of nudity and blood shown in the movie is allowed, then i see no reason why AXN should be banned.. Wierd..

As usual we guys ended up laughing for lots of mokkai's (Thanks mostly to ara).. Nice movie experince.. I still don't see how this movie beat 'Departed' to win the golden globe though.. Realistic cinema is the order of the day i guess..