manish Speak

finally somebody is serious about the corruption, chaos, ignorance and callousness that mark the indian political climate. 6 iitans have done what all of us atleast momentarily have thought about doing. they have created a political party with the ideology of addressing the problems that plague our country. they are backed by techincal and social knowledge and look competent and confident. i salute these people for their grit and determination. they are headed by tanmay and chandrasekhar. iam a techie and i want to contribute to this brave initiative in all ways possible. lets give this platform a voice that would deafen the ears of the archaic, putrid, stinking system
that stares us in our face every waking hour. 7 % growth, call centres, outsourcing, malls, amusement parks, condominiums and fancy lifestyle is all good. but that has happened only in the cities. there is a vast majority of the people out there who dont have access to housing, land, education, medical care, micro finance, legal help and what have u. take some time off and think hard. if your neighbour is poor and hungry and uneducated dont go blaming him for breaking into your house and stealing food or money. rise above religion, cast , ethnicity and move that complacent ass. your grandchildren would be grateful to you one day in the not so distant future.
visit the website for updates http://www.paritrana.org

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/02/06/XMLC/toc.asp?frame=true

database programming i find very dull and boring but still there is a lot out there that is interesting and it is good to spend some time studying the deeper aspects of database access technology

i found a good link on how we can use just one wrapper component to access sql server,oracle, sybase and stuff. the page leads to more interesting stuff.

http://www.15seconds.com/issue/040127.htm

i have found some more links for dot net technologies which are very conceptual in terms of the information.

very revealing stuff about events and delegates in dot net

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/03/02/BasicInstincts/toc.asp?frame=true
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/03/03/BasicInstincts/toc.asp?frame=true

some applications that you can download and run. they inlclude source code.the implementation is high quality coming from microsoft itself.you will have to register once for this

http://www.windowsforms.net/Default.aspx?tabindex=8&tabid=3

great free tools to exploit for dot net

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/07/MustHaveTools/default.aspx

how to protect your intellectual property (sofware product/program)
http://www.15seconds.com/issue/040310.htm

of late i have been reading some nice stuff on dot net technologies.
i found some cool and refreshing concepts. i think it is a great
technology that allows you to do amazing things. i am not
always this geeky. i can also be funny and very non-nerdy at times

a joke for you to lighten up.

girl to boyfriend : do you like my pretty face or sexy body ?
boyfriend : i like your sense of humour


now check out some cool links

firstly something about blogs themselves. not too techie. more of a concept
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/04/XMLFiles/

about extreme programming and testing an app
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/04/ExtremeProgramming/toc.asp?frame=true

about patterns
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnbda/html/observerpattern.asp

a very good testing tool. dowloadable freely at www.nuint.org

Its been a great movie year so far. i am a movie buff but mostly restricted to hindi movies
of late.

some nice stuff i have admired during this year. trying to be as objectively critical as possible
i cant write very long reviews anymore.

main hoon na

shahrukh , regular hindi masala, good songs, sushmitas red saree and teeny bopper
masti did the trick. though i am not a fan of this genre i liked the overall feel of it.
funny and entertaining. kinda paisa vasool.


lakshya

technically brillant. good story telling. great music. camera work which i have not seen
in a hindi movie before. awesome imagery. a movie to be seen on the big screen.
touching ? i dont think so. the laid back, whacky feel of dil chahta hai is missing.
emotionality doesnt look very real. but worth a dekko. hrithik is good,
boman irani as his dad is excellent. well done farhan akhtar anyway.

ab tak chappan

rare gem a movie. very slick. great background score. nana is stupendous. yashpal sharma is brillant. good plot. dark theme. thankfully no songs. songs can rip apart a movie like this. the climax is engaging i felt a little uncomfotable with something. dont know what. maybe not a perfect climax. villian good but could have been better.

hum tum

funny, romantic comedy. feels sophisticated. very casual. saif is getting sexier and funnier and more impressive. always liked him but his evolution is amazing. rani is good. kiran kher is pleasantly whacky. why did she wait for so long to jump onto the mother india bandwagon.

need to mention all the mothers who's gajar ka halwa we have found so finger licking good over the years

nirupama roy - mother of all mothers . after all the mother of our fav angry son vijay

nutan - the goody goody always widowed and 'abala maa' of all times

reema lagoo - salman khan had a copyright on her for some time. nice maa. good acting. but went overboard in vastav part II

farida jalal - my fav mommy. terrific actress. can fit into a dai role with equal ease.

kiran kher - very talented. theatre background. oliver stone once called her dimples the sexiest. after hum tum i want to be her son too.

murder

sensually hard hitting suspenseful movie. bollywood evolved one big step with this. kinda outrageous. great music. still topping the charts. iam not surprised. opens a new genre sort of

rakt

scary. good plot. far better than any attempt of this kind in the past. slick. music is unbearable though. always trusted mahesh manjrekar to tell a good story. performances are not great. but amrita arora can act a bit.

hyderabad blues II - rearranged marriage

nagesh kuknoor will go places. this man knows what subtlety is all about. hyderabad is an interesting mixture of the old world charm and high technology yuppieness. good use of profanity as in blues I. the sound track has a great song celebrating the hyderabadiness that so many people in india have come to love. profane lyrics but colorful lingo is what hyd is also about. blues I suffered from abysmal technical quality. this one is a big improvement on that front.

look out for

vastu shastra

naach

sarkar

very strange isnt it . all ram gopal verma films. but thats class vs crass

some more movies i liked

mangal pandey

big movie, big canvas, good costumes, good music and aamir khan. the opression of the goras is well captured. the english guy acts well. some great moments to arouse patriotic moments in you. very watchable. i live in singapore and was shocked to see serpentine queues for the first time.

sarkar

amitabh, abhishek , ramu and god father. it cannot get any better. slick and great indian version of the god father. good plot, fantastic performances by k.k menon. i thought he was just good but in this movie he is the best. the guy playing rashid is also mindblowing. especially his stare at sarkar when he refuses to collaborate with him. i found that women in my household appreciated this otherwise strong subject which is also quite dark. abhisekh's intensity is cool.

paheli

colorful costumes, rajasthan's locales, great folk story and amol palekars sensitive touch make this folk drama a good example of old fashioned no frills story telling. what is unusual is that though it is a no frills film there are great special effects which blend so seemless in the movie u wont feel distracted by them. sharukh and rani are very good and so are anupam kher and nina kulkarni as the mother. she looks like a real marwari woman. some people might find the idea of a ghost replacing the protaganist by deceit and fathering a child with his wife appaling but it a metaphor for spirit vs body, for love vs greed. if amir can do a lagaan sharukh can do a paheli.

parineeta

a breath of fresh air, a soothing breeze. a movie which transports you to the sixties or maybe fifties but in color and the bonus is a great visual and musical treat. saif as the rich guy looks suave and his acting prowess shows when he is envious of sanjay dutt. vidya balan as the lead female cast is the girl next door with great simplicity and charm. she is in the kajol mould yet has her own distinctness. the movie left me asking for more classic novels in the form a movie.

black

until this movie i thought sanjay bhansali was very good. he has mesmerized with me with this mind bending shocker of a movie. i read somewhere that is a copy of some european movie but i thought if that were true it still was a materpiece of a copycat job. it is a bit indianized. the movies frames are a visual delight with the color black dominating everything. rani is exceptional. she is now in the same league as madhuri's in terms of performances. amitabh was to my surprise a let down. he goes overboard and i felt his act was pretty loud even when he is struck with the neural disease. overall a fabulous piece of cinema.

rang de basanti

This movie did it for me. Isn't is materpiece but something about it worked for me. the angst of youth in india. I have killed the indian politician in my mind a billion times. I guess it was the vicarious pleasure of giving vent to the frustration built up over the years. lack of oppurtunities, bad planning, worse instrastructure, worst accountability and basically a loathsome parasitic system overall. if india is doing well it is inspite of these scumbags. if someone can kick their butts hard for me i can only relish it. amir is very good. some scenes standout. good value for money.