AlPhA KaPpA DeLtA PhI

Tamizh Padam stars Radio Mirchi RJ Shiva. Shiva is known for his self-styled comedy, more popularly known as Mokkai in Tamil parlance. The movie kicks off with a good pace and in every scene the spoof attempted is clear. The director has taken his liberty in attacking popular scenes from past tamil movies. M.S Bhaskar and Mano Bala play side kicks to the hero and as usual they end up tickling your funny bone.

The story line isn’t very strong in this movie though. It seems to be made for taking a shot at popular scene and only for that purpose! The lead lady Rocky Patel Disha plays a forgettable role. Not too much to write on her character and so would be unfair to write about her acting. We should wait for a more solid performance from her to comment on her. Shiva scores in a role that is tailor-made for him. His inimitable style of comedy is both refreshing and funny. It is nice to finally see comedy of this genre emerging. But will that make for a full length film? I’m not so sure. After a point in time the comedy fails to impress. And add the usual commercial elements of song and dance, and you have the typical makings of a Sathyaraj movie!!

An attempt has been made to make the story is little different, making references to the US President are also funny, and these have to be written in any review on the movie. All said, this is a good attempt at an alternate genre of film making in Tamil. Not sure about its commercial success at the box office though.

Goa is simply awesome..!!!

The name Goa suggests a great deal of fun and frolic. And the movie doesnot disappoint on this front. However, it is not as about fun and frolic. There is a bigger message underlying in the film. It deals with sexuality in a very mature and non-sleazy way.

The story goes like this;  the lead actors (refer the Stills of Goa for the list) feel cramped by their over protective parents and finally break free from their strangle hold. This takes them to Goa, and the men turn into completely different people. You should watch out for Premji in this portion of the movie. He rules over here!! And then they meet the leading ladies. What happens to them during the course of these interactions explains the up-coming of the men. The movie ends on a positive note and resists the temptation from ending with a message on your face.

You should watch Goa with an open heart and I am sure you will like.

The movie stars Jai, Vaibhav, Premji Amaran and SPB Charan. It is another one of Venkat Prabhu’s specials. His formula of mixing comedy with thriller elements may be a repetition, but it is far from boring. Venkat Prabhu has the knack of introducing comic elements as an undercurrent through out his movie and never appears crass. It is in this aspect that Premji Amaran has a cult like following among his fans. He seems to be shining only when acting under his brother’s direction. His performances under other directors have been forgettable.

Jai and Vaibhav have done a neat job with Jai occupying the chunk of the screen space in the movie. His performances are getting better, but we would like to see a lot more from this actor.

My gut feeling is that the movie will be major hit among the youth but not so much with the older audience. However, keep watching this space for further trends on the movie.

Goa Songs Free Download. Click on the links below..!!

Tamilmp3world.Com – Adida! Nayandiye

Tamilmp3world.Com – Idhu Varai

Tamilmp3world.Com – Goa

Tamilmp3world.Com – Goa (Club-Mix)

Tamilmp3world.Com – Kaadal Endral

The movie is directed by Gautam Mennon and starts Trisha and Simbu. This is a relatively new combination and looks fresh on screen. Music is score by AR Rehman and as usual they stand apart.

Movie Name: Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya [2010]

Cast: Silambarasan, Trisha Krishnan, Uma Padmanaban

Music Director: A. R. Rahman

Direction: Gautham Menon

Story: Gautham Menon

Editor: Anthony

Production: Madan, Ganesh, Elred and Jayaraman

Hosanna – Vijay Prakash, Suzanne, Blaaze

The Harvard Business Review (HBR) is truly a world class magazine. It is a summary of all that is happening in the Management Research world. The articles are written by officials from top companies. A great deal of work goes into bringing out each issue; and is rightly identified as the flagship magazine in Management Science.

A typical issue contains a few predictable sections. My favorites among these are the Case Study Section, Best Practices, Managing Yourself, insurance quotes and Caring for Employees Health. The Case Study section deals with mostly fictional issues arising in office. My most favorite case study is the issue of Santa Claus not able to meet Christmas deadlines for delivering gifts to children around the world, because of a sudden change in the children’s demand. The stories maybe fictional but the issues are certainly pertinent. After the case is narrated, the magazine publishes responses from relevant people on how to resolve the issue. The relevant people are mostly people from the industry, academics or management experts. These people are chosen from a wide spectrum and each perspective is distinctly different from the other. Sometimes it is hard to grasp all the views at one go! The other sections are on predictable lines (as their name suggests). And I will not elucidate further on them.

I addition to these regular features, the magazine has a worthy cover story on each issue. These issues are dealt with very elaborately and make in hard for new guys, like me, to understand. Reading the editors note before reading the cover story, generally, makes it less hard to understand.

HBR is high quality stuff and makes for very good reading.

Maintaining a website is no joke. It requires a lot of patience and a lot of tracking of users. It is very easy to shoot out mails to all prospective viewers, asking them to check your site. But the harder part is to get them to re-visit the site. This requires follow up on a regular basis. This requires constantly getting their feedback on the site and replying to their mails frequently. And this is why it requires iContact, an E-Mail Marketing Software like no other.

At less them $10 per account charge, it is the easiest option out there. Imagine that you are adding a new feature to your web-site and want to notify all previous users at one go. Is there any easy way to do? With iContact’s Targeted E-Mail Marketing, it is possible to get it done easily. It has a variety of e-mail based services, a lot of it custom tailored to meet your specific demands. E-Mail newsletters reach prospective users with great deliverability. As a business enterprise it’s worth every buck!

What makes this option even more eye-catching is that there are a host of MNCs Ford, Nissan, International Paper, Bank of America that are catered to. When in the same plane as such big names you can expect to be treated like one! At $660 for the starting package it is the best deal on Enterprise E-Mail Marketing.

Online shopping is one of the hottest areas that the internet is spreading its wings into; its also one of my personal favorites. Much like the internet itself, it is revolutionizing the way we lead our lives. Imagine the power of the concept of being able to buy whatever you want from your home. It’s truly mind-boggling. If you are playing a game on your Play Station and you want more dics to continue your passion, walking out to a store and standing in queue would be the most bugging thing to do. Online shopping changes this and makes the process much easier. 132 million users across the U.S are expected to get on-board to the online-shopping band wagon in the next five years. That’s a huge number of people. In fact, it’s a really huge number of people. On-line shopping doesn’t limit its variety to Electronics or Books. You can look for books, clothes, consumer care products and hey, including food!! Supply chain management has evolved so much that deliveries reach you really fast.

One thing that could play spoil sport to this burgeoning phenomenon is the tendency by a few site owners to include only registered online retailers. While this will kick their profits up, it does little good to the industry as a whole. It provides information that is only partly correct and will drive away users over time. ShopWiki allows scans for every online-retailer and offers services from any one without the constraint of registering. This unique strategy attracts the best in class services.

Much like google, ShopWiki digs through every corner of the internet to get you the best prices. This works well for a customer and a retailer. The smaller online portals need not fear of competition from the big ones and can compete on a level playing field. And as an end-user, we get the best prices, from wherever it is available.

Thomas Friedman argued that the internet is one of the biggest levelers in making the world flat. He couldn’t be more correct. 

I have always noticed that every good looking house has a neatly designed mailbox in the front. They add good charm to a well designed house. But it’s not always neatly designed. Some mailboxes look completely out of sync with the house. Mailboxixchange (pronounced as Mailbox Exchange) makes some of the best boxes I have ever seen. They always look well designed and in sync with the portico of the house. I’m guessing they have a custom mailbox design section for each house.

I looked up them on the web and found that they do both residential and Commercial Mail Boxes. In the commercial sector, they provide custom solutions to large enterprises which are flooded with mails, typically a few thousands a day. It’s not about the volume though, Commercial MailBoxes should cater to the specific needs of every organization.

I also learn that security forms an important part of their service. Needles to say, it forms an important part of the business. Whether it is residential or commercial mail boxes, security is an important aspect. In today’s world the importance of security in any form of communication cannot be over emphasized. In that aspect, you are in safe hands with Mailboxixchange.

Whether it is security or aesthetics, Residential or Commercial MailBox, with Mailboxixchange gives you the best deal.

This one is exclusively for Salman Khan fans and a strict no-no for anyody else.

Even if you are the former, I would pity you. This one is a real flop show. Salman soars through, but everything else in the movie is agnozingly bad. The story is a lifted in parts from several familiar movies. Troy, Gladiator, Mard, Raj Thilak are a few that some to the mind.

Here’s the story, Salman is a member of the Pindari community who were betrayed by the Raja of Madhavgarh, played by Jackie Shroff. Prithvi Singh (Mithun Chakravarthy) sends his son, Salman, to study in England, where Salman meets Jackie’s daughter (Zarine Khan). After this sequence, both head back home and are pitted against each other by traditional rivalry. What unfolds next forms the climax of this movie.

Except Mithun, Salman overrides every other actor in the movie. Not even his brother character, Sohail Khan, gets any screen time. Zarine Khan disappoints and fails to pull off even the romantic scenes. There are a cloud of well known actors in the Pindari community, but none of their roles have any substance.

Salman is the only saving grace in this movie. Acting the part of a sturdy looking guy comes natural to him and spends most of the time in the movie without his shirt. How long will this last??!!

The director seems to have been lost in including commercial elements in the movie. Music, camera and photography are above par. The action sequences are a letdown though. A few rope tricks seem very obvious and could have been avoided.

Overall, its 1 on 5 for this one. And Salman earns the single point for the movie.

The earthquake tragedy in Haiti was a tragic one and caused enormous amount of destruction. The country’s alrerady absent infrastructure is further crippled. Understandably, aid has come pouring in. In one week since the earthquake, $1 million dollars has been collected. People across the world are showing their sympathies by donating overwhelmingly.

But how much aid can Haiti take and use successfully.  The Tsunami that left several countries in Asia devastated has several lessons to offer on aid distribution. Statistics have it that, of the funds that went out to the NGO’s, only 39 % was used by them in one year. Except in a few countries like Malaysia, help offered by a sympathizing world didnot matter. The reason: most countries couldn’t channelize all the aid coming in and distribute it to people. 75 tones of expired medicines had to be burnt, a few months after the Tsunami. Even free medicines could not reach people before their death. MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) stopped collecting donations realizing this and was heavily criticized. But eventually their prediction was right. Taking that as an example, they have stopped collections for the Haiti Earthquake, instead asking people to donate to their general account.

The unfortunate events in Haiti only emphasize that all governments need to be in charge. Natural destructions can strike unexpectedly. Emergency relief infrastructure must become a part of basic infrastructure. Else, even aid from outside will not matter.

I have a rather bad habit of following new by the second. You read it right, ‘bad habit’. Why so? Well it gives me blistering headaches at odd times of the day. Every second news is about a man-made tragedy that could have been avoided, if only growth was structured. The Haiti earthquake is a good example. I would not blame them for not anticipating such a powerful earthquake, but infrastructure is so poor down there that it takes 2 days for aid to reach the affected areas from the airport.

It was while watching a chilling narrative of this tragedy at the confines of my home that a ripping headache set in. Too bad for me, no medication at home. My doctor is on a holiday and will take a week to get back. And that’s not all, I had an important discussion the next morning. Occurance of spasmodic migraine headache had been bothering me for almost a year. My doc would hand me out a prescription of Fioricet and bail me out each time. Too bad, it won’t happen this time.

Out of desperation, I logged onto to http://www.fioricetbluelist.com/ . I had seen an ad on the net long ago about this site. The site gave me a quick price listing across various online pharmacies and helped me get the best prices. Within a few hours an UPS guy was standing with my Fioricet. The site also has some insightful articles on the drug and from people who have used it. Fioricet COD Can Really Deliver the Goods.

Just before confirming my order, I checked rxlist.com and found some info about Fioricet drugs. I found out about the dosage limits that are safe while consuming. Fioricet without my doctor’s presence! Fioricet Drug Information by RXList.com is really comprehensive.

I never missed my doctor and probably will never go back to him for migraine problems.

Wayne Parnell – Delhi Daredevils for 610,000

Shane Bond – KKR (undisclosed!!)

Kehmar Roach – Deccan Chargers for $720,000

Mhd. Kaif – Kings XI for 250,000

Keiron Pollard – Mumbai Indians (undisclosed!!)

Graham Swann – unsold

Brad Haddin – unsold

Shahid Afridi – unsold

Eion Morgan – RCB for 220,000

* KKR and Mumbai Indians have emptied their purse!!

Doug Bollinger – unsold

Shakib – unsold

Sohail Tanvir – unsold

Justin Kemp – Chennai for 100,000

Perrara - Chennai for 100,000

Damien Martyn – Rajasthan for 100,000

Tim Bresnan,  Akmal, Benn, Chamara Silva, Imran Nazir, Wavel Hinds, Lendl Simmons, Phil Hughes, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Tyron Henderson, Rana Naveed, Nofke, van der Warth, Grant Elliot - unsold

The IPL auctions for 2010 season are about to start. And this time the franchises will have a pool of 66 players from across the world to choose from. The list even includes a player from Canada. Initially, no Englishman featured in the list. However IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi revamped the list to include them. The auctions start today.

Every year the auctions drama catches every ones attention. The curiosity to know how much each player sold for creates a feverish buzz in the media. And every year, at the time of auctions, a few people, like me, keep rambling about how the concept of bidding for players is not in keeping with the ethics behind the game.

I accept that cricketers making money by playing the game they love is not morally wrong. My only concern is whether this trend will open a Pandora’s box in the coming years. Already, a lot has been said and written on this topic year after year, but they all seem to have fallen on deaf years. Consider this, if the only reason for the auctions was to help players make money, then a flat price, arrived at by consensus among franchises should be fixed for each player and let other factors like player’s interest determine the side a player plays in. Performance based hikes should be granted by franchises. This way, if a franchise is not forth-coming by announcing hikes, less players will prefer it and the team will ultimately loose sheen. I strongly believe that current system of bidding is not the right way. The concept of bidding looks an obvious ploy by the BCCI to milk as much money as it can from cash-rich franchises.

Cricket is a gentleman’s sport. The game evolved from lazy barristers stroking the ball to fit athletes competing hard on, the field. This evolution explains why money is important in this sport. Also, performance and performers need to be rewarded. But issues relating to money have to be dealt with cautiously. The BCCI in its excitement to market the IPL has taken the wrong route in selling the players so blatantly.

Express your views below. Please donot refrain from expressing your thoughts.

A friend of mine changed his home to a new locality and wanted me to help him in getting a new Direct TV connection in his new locality. I logged on to the website of Directtv and checked out the options available. Finding Direct TV in that new locality was really easy. I had to enter the first five digits of the zip code and I had a plan generated for that locality. It was really easy and fast and took no time at all.  I understand from sources online that a recent law passed by the Congress allows Direct TV to air local channels. This step has translated to a flexible option of choosing local channels at my will. This is Direct TV’s biggest advantage for me. The ease of finding a local Direct TV option in any area in the US and the ease of configuring local channels are real kicks.

In addition to getting local channels for my friend, the flexibility didn’t end there. I also got to provide him with a local feeds from his previous locality. I think this will help him follow his local baseball team from his previous locality. Direct TV Packages are really customizable.

With my job done, I signed off on a happy note.

Every time I open my inbox, I get a flurry of interesting mails that I signed up for on various websites. This kind of E-Mail Marketing Solution really baffles me. What’s more, these auto-generated mails designed so aesthetically designed as well. So, I looked up to find various companies that provide e-mail newsletter services. iContact was one such company that I found online. The company provides a variety of E-Mail based services ranging from e-mail newsletters to working on the Barack Obama 08 Presidential Campaign.

As I read more on these services, I found a few factors that define the parameters for success in this service domain. Deliverability, track record, proving sophisticated features were among the few, listed in the order of importance. First is deliverability. I found that iContact provides 98% deliverability. In this field, this is an important parameter. Results for a client don’t depend on the number of e-mails sent out, but the actual mails that reach prospective customers, crossing spam detectors. Next Is track record. It is always a safe bet to go in for the services offered by a company which has a vast set of satisfied customers. iContact, I found has a whooping number, close to 60,000 customers, including several Fortune 500 firms. I was truly surprised on reading this! Finally comes the level of sophistication. Delivering E-Mail newsletters is fine in most cases. But a little bit of flexibility in delivering widens the options. Auto responders, survey tools provide greater leverage to understand a prospective customer. iContact has some of the widest ranges in this category. The list of things you can do is never ending. Finally comes cost, at $9.95, iContact comes amongst the most affordable options. There is also an enterprise option starting at $660 a month.

So, what started of as a simple mail in my inbox, lead to a great deal of number-crunching and stats on e-mail marketing services. Add more to the list by commenting on this post.