SIMON + KAYAR

It was the interval and munching some pop corns I was thinking that this film is the best attempted in Tamil Cinema to match a world class quality in action and adventure and also one of the finest films I have seen and there could be nothing in the second half that can take this away from such a superb film - unfortunately, I was wrong.

The film starts off and never once misses its pace for the entire long first half. That is a credible thing. Most of the people would be amazed by the attention to detail, the grandeur and will be even trying to see if they are dreaming and is it indeed a tamil film that they are watching. The song "Un mela aasathan" adds to this and makes you want to cry in happiness. Had the film ended at the half way I feel it would have been a slight disappointment but one that would have been far better than having to sit through the second half and the climax. One word of caution - it is a 'A' rated film and is at the extreme end of it. Free flowing rough language, a higher overtone of sex and violence/blood to good amount. No faint hearted people please and see if you can leave out your children.

What starts off as a adventure film at its core becomes a drama and much more, a tradegy towards the end. I will not open up any spoilers here but I feel so sad for Selvaraghavan and what he could have achieved with a different screenplay in the second half. But though the screenplay lets you down, the grandeur and the attention to detail is still there.

But at the end of the day, you feel cheated as a child who was given the most amazing lollipop he had ever tasted but found that after having eaten half, it becomes bitter and you are forced to eat it till the end.

Indian cricket fans should have one quality, endurance of pain, the pain of being so near, of almost winning. But among the pains of yesterday when India lost, something else was there to cheer about, a man dedicated to cricket. The devotion that this single man has shown in his life to this sport is amazing to say the least. After a wave of questions of retirement who everyone from my neighbour to the cricketing critics has been throwing at him, yesterday he showed why, he is the BEST.

The little master at the age of 36 single handedly carried on an assault against the aussies and almost won it for India, well almost..

P.S: Btw, he crossed 17k runs the first to do so and as a commentator pointed out he has been the first right from 10k runs.. And for those who says that he plays for record, you should have seen him when he stepped to get the man of the match award, the sadness said it all. I will watch again the many matches that he is part of, may be with a broken heart at the end but only to see if the master attempted it again...

After a long time I feel being gripped by a video game. I have spent 25 hours on this one and it is going strong - thanks to my wife for being so understanding of my passions. Now this game and this series is very popular among nintendo circles and it landed in shelves as early as 2006. But I had to wait till now since I could not get my hands on this game (living in india). The drought came to an end this year when a colleague of mine helped me purchase these games on his trip to US. I made sure that I collected most of the gems of Wii like Super mario galaxy, mario kart, zack and wiki, pikmin, de blob and a few more along with this, the biggest ever zelda game.

I fondly remember the days when my brother and I sat down and tried to conquer the first zelda game on NES in a day not realizing that it requires much more than that to complete the game. I will update this after I finish the game. Atleast another 25 hours to go is my guess

After requests from a few regular users, I have updated the tax calculator for the financial year 2009-2010 including the recent proposals in budget like

• Tax Slab changes
• Surcharge removal

You can find the new sheet here

A video game from Spielberg should be interesting and what if it combines ideas from our childhood days of blocks and bringing them down. I liked it when I heard it the first time and now I have it at home. After Wii Sports Tennis this was the game which my wife and kid and I like equally well. Isn't that some effort. A very nice physics based game with puzzles and challenges for everyone. You aim at the blocks with your wii remote and throw the ball. That is all you need to learn to play this (like World of Goo but much more easier) Ok let me blast a few more blox...

I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here's what happened. I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when all of a sudden, and I mean without warning, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded and missed the other car's back end by just inches.

Here's what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. How do I know? Ask any New Yorker, some words in New York come with a special face.

Now, here's what blew me away. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they'll dump it on you.

When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You'll be happy you did. I guarantee it.

So this was it: The "Law of the Garbage Truck." I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on the streets? It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do it anymore."

I began to see garbage trucks. Like in the movie "The Sixth Sense," the little boy said, "I see Dead People." Well now "I see Garbage Trucks." I see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.