Happy Birthday Rajinikant

Southern superstar Rajinikant turned 57 today. NDTV's Sam Daniel and the Ticker got that right but Sreenivasan Jain seemed hell-bent on letting viewers know that Rajni was only 54. Some hidden agenda there? Wotsay?

What happens when you have a webcam with a motion detector, bread, boredom and way too much free time? This

Aishwarya PJs - Don't kill me!

The Dhoom 2 chartbuster Crazy Kiya Re set me thinking -

What if Aishwarya was trapped in Delhi's smog - Hazy Kiya Re

What if Aishwarya set out to buy vegetables - Kaise Diya Re

What if Aishwarya became too arrogant - Main hoon Diva Re

I coined a few others as well but I am concerned abut your mental health and won't torture you further.

Copycat Rahman???

Another music composer bites the dust. I was listening to a rendition of Bert Kaempfert's Moon Over Naples (better known as Spanish Eyes) performed by operatic tenor Plácido Domingo and the music was weirdly familiar.

And then it struck me - it sounded almost exactly the same as A R Rahman'sTu bin bataye number from Rang de Basanti (2005). I suppose Rahman will now claim he was "inspired" by Kaempfert's mid-20th century creation. Wotsay?

Why Dhoom 2 fails to impress

Well, one of the things I did in Ahmedabad last Friday was watch Dhoom 2 the same day as its worldwide release. My cousin Philo and brother Jose whisked me off to the city's CitiPulse multiplex to watch Hrithik and Aishwarya in action. And what of Abhishek you ask - well, he and Uday 'Ali' Chopra seem to have somewhat of a guest appearance in this flick - playing second fiddle to master thief Aryan (Hrithik).

The ending does redeem Abhishek to some extent but this chor-police story leaves you wondering why you didn't leave your brains at home. Both Dhoom movies are action movies with lots of style and attitude but certainly weak on substance.

Both flicks hinge on spectacular special effects and the glamour quotient of its starcast. Pritam's compositions in Dhoom 2 are funky too (especially Crazy Kiya Re) but the bhangra mix song Dil Laga Na in the second half set me yawning. And I thought the Hrithik-Aishwarya liplock was way over-rated. Also, what finally happens to Abhishek's wife, baby and Bipasha (Shonali) Basu? Any guesses?

Trivia from imdb.com
- This is the first pairing of Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai after many close tries. They were supposed to be in a movie directed by Tanuja Chandra but it didn't materialise

- The shooting of this movie was delayed because of a flood that damaged the new Yash Raj studio

- Aishwarya Rai was told to lose weight by Aditya Chopra after gaining it for Bride & Prejudice (2004)

- It's the first Bollywood movie to be filmed in Brazil

- 1,200 prints of this movie were released in Indian cinemas, the biggest for any Bollywood movie

- Priyanka Chopra was originally offered the part played by Bipasha Basu, but she declined

Hell has no fury like a woman scorned

A former strip club waitress in Boston mailed flammable material, including condoms filled with a potentially explosive mixture, to a television station, strip clubs where she had worked and other places, coz she was apparently tired of being mistreated by men. Ouch!!! Read full story here

Illegal aliens murder 12 Americans daily

Well, the story is true enough. In fact the death toll in 2006 far overshadows the total number of US soldiers killed in Iraq, Afghanistan. Bad headline though. Coz ninety per cent of us have fond memories of E.T.



Read full story here.

Look b4 U post on YouTube

Young Norwegian posts a video 'Driving in Norway' on YouTube.com. The clip shows his car's speedometer crossing 150 miles (240 kilometres) per hour on a public highway near Oslo. Police viewing video online not pleased since the country's speed limit is only 62 miles per hour. Police trace youth and present him with $1,300 fine. Hope you got the moral of the story - Double check your videos for any incriminating evidence before you post on YouTube.

My new mobile phone

Actually, it's already a month since I bought the Sony Ericsson W550i handset. But I hadn't told you guys about it so for all practical purposes, it's still my new mobile phone. I didn't quite like its bright orange hue much and immediately changed it to the more decent blue you can see below. The phone's been called a lot of things - kiddo phone, candy floss... but its Walkman and other features easily stand out from others in the market. Given its popularity in India, it's easily the best phone in the Rs 10K category. I've been a Nokia fan till now but the W550i really impressed me with its complete entertainment package. Now my hour-long bus journeys are pure bliss. Wotsay?