Oru Cup Coffee

This is an amazing story I read on MSN. A smart guy has created a web billboard and sells the real estate by pixels. I understand that he could make quick money as people flock to him to be part of his web billboard real estate. What I do not understand is that the companies that rent space say they get lots of hits for the price. The page looks cluttered and devoid of any design to make it better. I could not even find one advertisement worth clicking in that mayhem.

I’ve seen glimpses of the original King Kong movie and it never attracted me. I want to watch it now because the new King Kong has made me feel bad for ignoring the original. King Kong at the hands of Peter Jackson (PJ) should be nothing but marvelous. Having proven himself with LOTR, a concept that many failed, I’ve great regards for him to make movies of gigantic scale. I walked into the theater late, cursing the filled parking spaces that made me part a mile (well not really a mile, seemed like a mile) away from the theater. I thought I’d miss the King Kong entry. What a sigh of relief to see theater still running some local ads. I’ve always liked to watch the previews and the theater did not disappoint me. They played them until the collective audience sighed over it. The movie magic then started.

It was nothing like what I had expected. It was showing America during depression, a gal trying to make a life in acting/drama and a pushy movie director. I’d not seen the original so there is no way to compare this. I thought that PJ had changed it a bit and it is only a matter of time before the King Kong arrives. Alas, there was no sign. I was feeling the same as what the movie ship captain on the eerie ride felt, not knowing what was going to hit him. The scene of the ship encountering the wall of the island is one of the many best scenes in the movie. Especially, the young chap at the top of the ship, swaying like a pendulum, unsure of what’s gonna hit him makes us join the boat trip. The audience is swaying themselves. Then they find the wall, very abruptly, and the water pins the ship to the wall. Then the crew ventures into the land only to find tribes ready to kill them with their primitive tools. They get rescued and the movie moves from the soft story telling in the rough waters to the fast paced rugged terrain. Where is King Kong? Well I forgot about that. And so would you. Half the movie is already done. From this moment on the movie builds up extra pace and takes you with it. King Kong appears with every bit looking real. The rest of the movie is almost like riding atop this beast that falls for the beauty. Like Naomi Watts (NW). The special effects bring about every form of conceivable animal on that island attacking the humans. And the beast falls in love with NW, does all the things a hero would do to rescue her and more, ending with a grunt. Then the treacherous movie producer brings the beast to town for shows. The beast escapes and mutilates the city ferociously. Finally the beast succumbs to its love and dies atop a tall building and falls flat on the ground. We also fall flat and feel for the beast and develop distaste for the inhumane army that shoots at it. The movie ends. Three hours of saga, gone in a minute. That is the power of PJ’s story telling with his special effects. Though there are few places where the special effects fail to mix with the cast, the movie comes out a winner. The effects are used well to support the story and not to boast what can be done. The story track of incessantly pushy and opportunistic director played by Jack Black, beautiful Naomi Watts that falls and fells the beast, Adrien Broody to keep her company and of course the King Kong played by Andy Serkis together sculpt this monstrous movie frame by frame. I did not know that Andy Serkis also played Gollum in LOTR. He also played a face showing role in this move. Watch the movie and figure it out. I am awaiting the DVD to see the making of King Kong. Read more about Andy Serkis here.

Like the director in the movie says “Piece of enchantment for the price of admission ticket”, well there you go. It is PJ himself in the movie talking about his movie. Sweet.

I've a 30 minute (approx) window to decide whether I should complete watching a movie. May be the 30 minutes are too much for some movies, but I still try. Here is a list of Tamil movies I stopped watching recently in and about 30 minutes:

1. Chinna
2. Priyasaki
3. New

For those who sat through these flicks, well what can I say..

On my recent visit to Chennai, I was looking for some properties and did not know whether the govenrment would help. With lots of skepticism, I searched for Tamilnay Registration Department to find a jewel at http://www.tnreginet.net/. This site has very comprehensive street and plot level listing of many properties with government estimated values for land and property. You can also find your sub register offices (SROs). You can apply for Encumberance Certificate (EC) online and have it delivered to you at home. This, I heard is a process that would waste days of your time at the SRO office. If you do not understand what an EC is, this posting may not be worthwhile to you. I've not tried applying, but I am hopeful that it works.

Other than this service, the site also provides a template for all sorts of documents you'd need to fill up/produce in dealing with registration department. This includes general power of attorney, special power of attorney, sale agreement and many other. The list is very comprehensive. Try it out and post comments about what you think.

The unprecendented rains in Chennai were giving me company during my vacation. My vacation got postponed by a week and the rains continued. Especially, the storms during Nov. 29/30 were something I've not experienced in my lifetime. I woke up that night to heavy winds and incessant thunder. The drum beats from the clouds were so loud that it rattled the doors and windows in my home. The lightning showed me the glimpses of other people in the home sleeping through this. My cousin that stayed upstairs watched my description of the night in awe, as he did not hear any of this. Well the logged water around the home was some proof, but he made me doubt my experience. The water receded in the next couple of days and we quit practicing ballet going in/out of the house. I came back to USA and Chennai is going through another storm.