25 years of Kuruthipunal: A taut police thriller from Kamal, Arjun, and P.C. Sriram. Those who went in expecting a typical police thriller were in for a rude shock. Kuruthipunal, when it came out, was completely different from a usual police story movie from Kollywood heroes including Kamal and Arjun. With its hard to swallow realistic portrayal Kuruthipunal stands apart from movies that came before or after that where the
Within a span of 2 weeks two of my favorite music legends, SPB and Edward (Eddie) Van Halen, decided to bid goodbye to this world. SPB’s struggle with COVID has been in the news, so was partially prepared I could say (no one is fully prepared for these things, we always hope there will be a miraculous turn around in the corner of our heart). But Eddie’s news came as
(Author: Jay Ramalingam) Good old chap Jeremy Bentham, in 1780s England, designed a clever prison building called Panopticon. He designed a prison to reduce the number of guards needed and their salaries. This design did not allow prisoners to know when they were being watched. Prisoners in such situations behaved well even when there were no guards watching. This made prisoners to become their own guards. Does this sound familiar?
Disclosure: A modified version of this article published within the organization I work for. NOTE: D & I: Diversity and Inclusion, WFH – Work from Home It may be too early to say whether COVID-19 will be viewed as a significant event of 21st century when our future generations look back, but I am sure COVID-19 will be a contender for that spot. It has been more than 6 months
(Author: Jay Ramalingam) Music continues from my previous short blog Plurality of Music or Unity of Vibes?… Everything seems to be energetic vibrations of points and space all the way down. Some groups of vibes consonate or dissonate with each other and synthesize new music just as multiple ripples combine to make new patterns. Music is movement, causing continuous interpenetrating movements. One music group causes another to morph. When the other
“Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing.” — Akira Kurosawa Official Trailer: In the words of Richard Feynman: “From a long view of the history of mankind – seen from, say, ten thousand years from now – there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the nineteenth century will be judged as Maxwell’s discovery of the
Official Trailer: First five minutes set the tone for the movie, Neil Armstrong piloting a rocket powered aircraft in the stratosphere and after reaching 140000 feet he can’t get control of the aircraft to descend. It goes in to upward drift, what NASA calls “Ballooning”. With not enough atmosphere for flight controls to bite into, he couldn’t turn. After few dreadful minutes, he regains the control and lands to safety.
With a mix of continuous and on/off lockdowns, WFH (Work From Home) one worthy thing happened is more time for family, work, books, movies, and friends (video chats), not necessarily in that order. Yes, there is frustration and gloomy feeling that hits observing the happenings near and around us, lack of state capacity, and leaders continuing with their politics and optics even in these times when millions of people are
(Author: Jay Ramalingam) Do you hear the music or the vibrations that produce the music? Do you see the table or the wood that makes up the table? Do you inhale the life-nourishing air or the electrons and protons that make up oxygen? Do you feel the emotions or the pattern of neuronal firings that
If you are from 70s & 80s movie goers, you would remember few single screen big theatres had the ritual of raising the screen curtain when the movie is about to start. Usually red curtain that will raise to the theme music of For a Few Dollars More (FFDM). Of course, I didn’t know nothing about FFDM or Ennio Morricone that time. Saw The Mission movie in Chennai 85/86, liked