Kathakali Enactment

Watch this video of a foreigner trying to experience the act of Kathakali, on the outside it might it look trivial but the hardest part is conveying various expressions in a natural flow.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGYZWPhHJhk

 

Some interesting facts:

• Traditionally these were played to last whole night, but the modern versions have been condensed to 3-4 hr plays.
• There are subtle differences in the makeup colors each kathak character applies, predominant green for Noble or Kingly characters, red for demonic, black for uncivilized commoner and bright yellow for femenine roles.
• Each act conveys a story chunk from well known epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Should try to experience this play sometime.

 

Venkat

Photo of the day 10/24, Fall Colors

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.
~Elizabeth Lawrence

Source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/96614226@N00/

Quotes on Technology

Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn't have to experience it.
~Max Frisch

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.
~Elbert Hubbard, The Roycroft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams, 1923

I like my new telephone, my computer works just fine, my calculator is perfect, but Lord, I miss my mind!
~Author Unknown

The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.
~Karl Marx

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.
~Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, 1988

The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
~B.F. Skinner, Contingencies of Reinforcement, 1969

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
~Carl Sagan

Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.
~Alfred North Whitehead

Education makes machines which act like men and produces men who act like machines.
~Erich Fromm

The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.
~Sydney J. Harris

If Al Gore Won the 2000 Election.

It would have been a much different America had Al Gore got elected in 2000. Electing bush plain reflects the level of dumb thinking majority of Americans have with the expection of few. Here is a commical talk of hypothetical events that would have happened if Gore got selected.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYuqoKxRhMg

 

After watching his recent movie "An Inconvenient truth", a documentary style movie about global warming, I really started to admire him. If you havent seen it, I would highly recommend watching it. Its high time every one has a understanding of this critical issue, especially people in India and China where there is least awarness.

 

Here is a trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_classics/aninconvenienttruth/trailer/

 

I hopefully wish he opts to elect for 2008 presedential elections.

 

Venkat

Rebel of the lord

No offense, its just hilarious

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fN1dPtEph2U

 

Venkat

Technium

A fine line I came across today :

 

"The finest use of technology today is to expose the largest number of people to the largest numbers of ideas, unprecedented on this planet."

 

Original Article

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/03/the-gift-of-stu.php

 

Venkat

Interviews from hell

Though I am not a big fan of David Letterman show, this particular show with Paris Hilton was quite interesting. This was shot after her short stint at the prison, boy isn't she grilled royally, letterman seems to be enjoying quite a bit. The best part is that she doesn't even get it,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKSxHYK_wfs

Venkat

A flight to nowhereville

You would have thought deccan air is the cheapest, guess what there is still a cheaper airline with a flat ticket of Rs100 bucks all taxes included. It sounds like a joke but the twist is that it doesn't fly, you pay the money just to experience what a aircraft looks like. Some Indian entrepreneur dreamed up to buy a dismantled aircraft just to give a flying experience to the less fortunate. Looks like he is doing well.

Here's the complete article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2558290.ece

"One can get anything if he is willing to help enough others get what they want.
– Zig Ziglar, salesman

Venkat

Desi Songs

If I put aside my desi bias and try to think of the lyrics desi songs put out, I should be mentally depraved to derive any meaning out of those. But they do rank quite high on hilarious note, watch this video of proximate translation of lyrics in English

It doesn't look like a one to one translation, not being a native Tamil speaker it would be interesting to know how close is the translation. Not that Telegu songs are better off, as matter of fact they are even worse.

Some nice lines:
"All nuns are gay"
"Some day I sell DNA"
"I know whats in butter....rum"
"My loony bun is fine Benny" and lot more.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA1NoOOoaNw

Enjoy...
Venkat