HD DVD - Strike Out?

The battle between Blu-Ray (Sony) and HD-DVD (Toshiba) formats is almost over, especially with Amazon extending its support to Blu- Ray. This has been very similar to the VHS- beta war in the 1970s where the now familiar VHS tape format erased Sony's beta format out of existence.

This time, luckily for Sony, history is not repeating itself - Sony Corp's Blu-Ray format has clearly emergied as the winner. With many stores and online rentals such as Netflix backing Blu-Ray, we can all expect a Blu-Ray monopoly quite soon.

Societal effects of management philosophies

According to Matthew Battles' report in the Boston Globe, management philosophies have a more far-reaching effect than we perceive them to:

...new research suggests that business can have an important -- and positive -- cultural impact as well. Companies that empower their employees to cut costs in the workplace not only improve their bottom lines, but also may foster civic engagement and contribute to peace in the societies where they operate, according to research published in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of Organizational Behavior.

The article also touches upon how the research has unraveled a concept that, maybe, strikes the middle-ground between Milton Friendman's view of businesses and John Mackey's view of businesses.

Interesting, huh?

Marudhanayagam trailer

Godsend.

Haasan & Chan

I believe that it is easy to beat all expectations if you set them low. But setting-low-expectations and Kamal's-movies don't go together. As with any other Kamal movie, either advertently or inadvertently, Dasavatharam has gathered enormous hype around it. To add to the pre-release aura the movie created, The Hindu reports that Jackie Chan will preside over the Dasavatharam audio release function to be held on March 14. But, I don't see why Jackie? Do you?

Beauty of Math

Brushes and paints are tools of the past to create an appealing art. These days scientists use rules of Mathematics and the computational power of computers to achieve the same result.

Random browsing can be very enlightening.

Sabermetrics and Clemens

This article on NY Times by a group of people from Wharton uses Sabermetrics (the statistical analysis of baseball data) to arrive at the following conclusion:

Our reading is that the available data on Clemens’s career strongly hint that some unusual factors may have been at play in producing his excellent late-career statistics.

Such conclusions may make good coffee room discussion topics, but are no substitutes for hard evidence and human testimonies in Roger Clemens' steroid abuse case.

Kamal or Rajini

This is not an analysis of the two stalwarts. If you were expecting one, I'm sorry to disappoint you. But on the other hand, I'm sure you'll be wearing a smirk on your face after seeing the following pic :)

(Courtesy: www.behindwoods.com)

You can find more incarnations of Kamal here at Behind Woods.

Onset of migration debate

I have often wondered if the social effects of mass-migration (mainly immigration) on countries like US of A have been studied.

I thought it was ironic that UK, a nation that forcefully emigrated to almost all countries on earth and elsewhere, is now starting to pay attention to the social costs of mass-immigration. You can read the story here.

Reborn

It takes effort to blog after a protracted blogging hiatus. After significant contemplation on answering "How do I break the ice?", popped the answer, "Just blog". So here I am trying to break the ice by apologising for leaving without much explanation. I'm not here now to extend any explanations, but I'm here to express my sincere intent to try and blog regularly henceforth. I don't promise, but I'll try.

This week in Tamil Cinema

Still young at heart

Is it superhuman to compose 7 songs in 27 hours averaging less than 4 hours a song? Fact says NO. Maestro Ilayaraja has composed 7 songs for the film ULiyin Osai that is based on the novel written by none other than the legendary writer cum politician, M. KaruNanidhi.

I've still not gotten over Ilayaraja's magical Thiruvasagam. I can't wait to see how the maestro composes for this literary work.

Paruthiveeran valiantly wins at Osian's Cinefan

Osian's Cinefan is a film festival for Asian and Arab movies held every year at New Delhi. At this year's function which took place a couple of days back, Paruthiveeran, directed by Ameer, bagged the best film award.

Ameer has explored radically different stories with his 3 films - Mounam pesiyadhae, Raam and Paruthiveeran. He has evidently matured as a director and this award should give him the confidence to make bold movies such as Paruthiveeran.

Priyamani, the heroine of the movie, was adjudged the best actress. She did perform well. But I was surprised on coming to know that Karthik did not receive the best actor award.


Music function at Chennai

Hariharan and Shankar Mahadevan will be performing a live music show on August 12 at Chennai's Nehru indoor stadium.

I had a few comments when I read this piece. First - I don't know of too many songs sung by both of them together and, to me, the biggest attraction is only if the singers share the stage on the same song (I still cherish the SPB-Yesudas concerts). Second - I read news elsewhere that Kamal had to play a clout game to get access to the Nehru indoor stadium for shooting Dasaavatharam, but apparently, it is easy to reserve it for film related functions. Poor Kamal.

Nevertheless, this concert should provide a gala time for the audience in Chennai who would, by now, be either roasted or soaked (I meant the heat and the rain!).

Fans blow climax away


I meant Ajith fans. How does the conviction of a writer matter when thousands of fans want the climax of the film Kireedam changed? The fans could not bear Ajith's fiasco, in Kireedam I mean. What will they do about our real Ajith who is floundering and faltering to save his career.