Welcome to my world, 'ente lokam'!

I, N Santhosh, invite all of you to my world, 'en lokam'. Hope you all find something worth watching, or reading here. Enjoy!



Saturday, October 23, 2010

National Film Awards Presented


President Pratibha Patil presented D Ramanaidu, a veteran producer with 130 films in a dozen languages, the Dada Saheb Phalke award for his outstanding contribution to cinema. All time Superstar Amitabh Bachchan received the best actor award for his role in ‘Paa’. The prizes were given away at New Delhi on 22/10/2010 during the 57th national film awards presentation function.
Ananya Chatterjee received the best actress award for her role in Abohoman. Rituparno Ghosh for his Bengali film Abohoman received the award for best direction. Malayalam Movie Kutty Shrank received best movie award for the year, while 3 Idiots received the best Film award for wholesome entertainment.
Rakesh Omprakash Mehra received the Nargis Dutt award for best feature film on National Integration Dehli 6. Farooq Shaikh received the award for the best actor in Supporting Role for the film Lahore. Arundhati Nag received the best actress award in supporting role for film Paa.

Diamond Bra costs 2.5 million pounds!!!

Choli ke peeche kya hai!!! Choli ke peeche kya hai!!! I am just humming a Bollywood song. You may think what is the inspiration to sing this song! Just met a news, a thrilling one, about a diamond bra!!! Wow.
Then we may say choli ke peeche... diamond bra hai!!!
The new bra Fantasy Bra brings forth by the famous brand Victoria’s covert is a truly distinct creation made with 2000 white diamond value 2.5 million pounds. The luxurious bra suggested this year by Victoria’s covert, although, has an graceful embellishment in blue decorated with a revolt of excellent Diamonds that makes for a light head and actually go well with the distinct seem of the gorgeous cerulean and challenging shapes.
I really wonder what this thing is going to cover? Is it really human organs or something else?! Then what is real diamonds, the bra or the assets behind that, Oh... Come back man...!

Spaceship 2 New Runway Unveiled


The world's first commercial passenger spaceship moved a step closer to takeoff. The initiator of the project Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic unveiled a new runway at a remote New Mexico spaceport. Branson and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson hosted a ceremony marking the completion of the main runway at Spaceport America, near the town of Las Cruces where the Virgin Galactic project is based.
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon, told a news agency: "I am very happy that civilians will be able to reach space. I'd like to be one of the passengers on these flights, of course."
SpaceShipTwo, a six-seat craft which is scheduled to carry paying customers into suborbital space by early 2012, made its maiden flight above the Californian desert in March. Recently the aircraft -- re-named the VSS Enterprise-flew high above the new two-mile(3.2-kilometer) long, 200-foot(60-meter) wide runway in tandem with its mothership, WhiteKightTwo or Eve.

The space ship is 60 feet (18 meters) long and its cabin is similar in size to a Falcon 900 executive jet, allowing maximum room for the astronauts to float in zero gravity.
Virgin started taking deposits from people wanting to become astronauts in 2005, and has now collected 50 million dollars in deposits from more than 380 people willing to pay the 200,000 dollar ticket price.
When it takes off, WK2 will carry SpaceShipTwo to an altitude of around 50,000 feet before dropping the smaller spaceship and allowing it to fire up its rocket motor to blast up to the brink of space. Once it has reached suborbital space, SpaceShipTwo passengers will be able to view the Earth from portholes next to their seats, or unbuckle their seatbelts and float in zero gravity.
Branson is also planning to take his mum and dad into space.
It is in this Spaceship that the first Indian space tourist designate Santhosh George Kulangara is going to take off to space.

Naked Yoga!!!


What do you know about Yoga. It is certainly a way of life, an effective way to stay healthy and fit. In short a healthy culture. All Indians are proud of being the natives of Yoga. But is Yoga needs dress? If, yes to what extend?Why such a question? It is the spice of the hour, man!!!
All these questions arise from a new video posted on playboy.com which shows model Sara Jean Underwood performing various yoga poses on a mat - absolutely naked.
Anyway many people are upset over such a ‘misuse’ of the age-old and revered system of yoga by Playboy for mercantile greed.
"Yoga is one of the six systems of orthodox Hindu philosophy and it is highly revered in Hinduism. It is actually a serious mental and physical discipline by means of which the human soul can unite with the universal soul.” said Rajan Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, who has taken aim at Playboy bosses over this new yoga video.
I think some people will definitely appreciate the ‘efforts’, really!



Sweden India Nobel Memorial Week


The fourth edition of the Sweden India Nobel Memorial Week 2010 Oct 22-31 began at Delhi. The Embassy of Sweden is simultaneously celebrating the commemorative week in six locations -Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and New Delhi- across the country.
The festival opened with a Swedish Food Festival.
The week-long festival will bring the legacy of the Nobel Prize, the world`s highest civilian honour, in concert with the theme for 2010, ‘Innovating for Good’. Like every year, the festival will culminate into a grand finale with a Swedish brunch at Olive Bar and special Nobel dinner at the embassy.
As you all are aware, Alfred Bernhard Nobel (Oct 21, 1833 to Dec 10, 1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator and armaments manufacturer and of course the initiator of Nobel Prizes.

Ayyappan Passed Away











Doctors at the Government General Hospital yesterday announced the death of celebrated Malayalam poet A Ayyappan, one day after his unfortunate demise.
Ayyappan, 61, who was found lying unconscious in a busy street of downtown Thampanoor near the city’s railway station ,was shifted to the hospital by the police and residents, where he was pronounced dead a few hours later.
Doctors at the hospital, from where he was discharged last month after being treated for an alcohol-induced health condition, said his body was kept in the mortuary as unidentified before the doctor in charge yesterday during his routine round identified it at around 12 pm.
Ministers and officials soon rushed to the hospital where a large number of his admirers had already gathered and the body was shifted to the Medical College Hospital for autopsy.
Unmarried and leading a bohemian lifestyle, the poet known for his intensity, meditative beauty and romance in his poetry, was believed to be on his way to Chennai where he was to accept the prestigious Asan Poetry Prize today.
Organisers have said the ceremony has been cancelled and the award carrying a cash prize of Rs 30,000, citation and statuette would be presented to his relatives later.
Considered to be one of the highest literary awards in Malayalam, the previous awardees are ONV Kurup, Sugatha Kumari, NN Kakkad, P Bhaskaran, Ayyappa Panicker, Satchidanandan and Akkitham.
In his condolence message, Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan said he was a poet par excellence who broke conventions to produce quality poetry. Ministers MA Baby, M Vijayakumar, G Sudhakaran, Benoy Vishwam and Mullakkara Ratnakaran also expressed grief over the poet’s death.
Officials said his body would be cremated at 4pm on Monday after being kept at the Victoria Jubilee Town Hall from 12pm for the public to pay their last respects. The funeral will take place with full state honours.
Ayyappan wrote more than a thousand poems starting from his student days. His famous works include ‘Maalamillaatha Paambu’, Onakkazhchakal, ‘Buddhanum Aankuttiyum’ and ‘Veyil’. He also published a collection of short stories titled Onakaazhchakal. Police who conducted inquest in the hospital recovered the last poem from his shirt.
Ayyappan, who was born at Balaramapuram on the city outskirts in 1949 joined the Communist Party of India and worked with its mouthpiece Janayugom for a short period. His father committed suicide after consuming poison when he was a year old and his mother committed suicide when he was 15. He was supported by his sister Subbalakshmi and his brother-in-law V Krishnan who lives in Nemam here.He was a close friend of late filmmaker John Abraham, who was also known for a lifestyle similar to that of the poet.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Students' town/city (Studentski grad) A City for Students!!


Do you know a particular place having the name ‘student’s city’? There is such a place in Bulgaria.
Students' town/city (or Studentski grad) is the student campus area for most universities in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It was created in the 1980s and now has over 40,000 residents. The real number of people living temporarily there can hardly be estimated.
It is one of the most diversified areas in Sofia, with old dwellings from the communist era which are inhabited by the students of different Sofia universities, and new nightclubs, trade, business and residential centres.
The area is famous for its busy nightlife. A variety of taverns and disco clubs make the campus one of the central night entertainment locations of Sofia, known clubs are Plazza and Jim Beam, here you can find western music. Studentski grad hosts a district police department that strives to tackle the fast growing alcohol-driven offenses, thefts, vandalism, football fans clashing, etc. The brutal murder of the student Stojan Baltov by drunken youths outside a disco club sparked debates on social environment and security issues, including the development of an integral vide surveillance system.
Unlike most campus areas in Western Europe, Studentski grad is a common living place for most of the students of Sofia's numerous universies rather than being in the vicinity of one particular university. This helps students from different higher education institutions exchange ideas, but on the other hand causes major transportation issues as the bulk of Sofia's university faculties are situated relatively far from the city centre and public transport is often unable to cope with Studentski grad's needs.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Cheapest Bike for Rs.10000, Another NANO


I don't think this is normal bike. I also don't believe that this is from Bajaj. Anyways reports say like that.
See its specifications, not bad at all.

 Kick Start
 Electric Start
250 CC Speed (Can increase speed by pedaling)
Leg break System as like Disc break in Pulsar

Go get it!!!

Brain can ‘see’ objects by ‘listening'!

Our brain has the ability to determine the shape of an object simply by processing specially-coded sounds, without any visual or tactile input. Don’t get surprised. Scientists at The Montreal Neurological Institute and McGill University have discovered this recently.  The research provides important new possibilities for aiding those who are blind or with impaired vision.

This means that our brains can be trained to recognize shapes represented by sound and the hope is that those with impaired vision could be trained to use this as a tool.
Following training, the study individuals were able to match auditory input to tactually discerned shapes and showed generalization to new auditory-tactile or sound-touch pairings. Neuroimaging studies have identified brain areas that integrate information coming from different senses – combining input from across the senses to create a complete and comprehensive picture.
Let’s hope for the best. This may write new chapters in the life of hearing impaired people.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Endhiran Facts, So Curious!!!

With the opening weekend gross alone being Rs 90 crore, he has also proved himself worthy of the tag of being Asia's second highest paid actor at Rs 45 crore. Whether it is shooting down policemen as the evil robot with the memorable Terminator-like line, 'Happy Diwali, folks,' or wooing Aishwarya with copies of A Briefer History of Time and Freakonomics, the hero-of-10-wigs has proved himself irresistible to all psychographics, young and old, MIT alumni and Mylapore maamis, urban sophisticates and rural fanatics.


Part urban legend now with the 99 Rajinikanth jokes (a sample, water boils faster when Rajinikanth stares at it) and part global phenomenon (The Robot has become India's highest grossing opening weekend film in the US at $2.5 million), he has established that he is The Superstar, with a box office collection surpassing India's biggest hit so far, 3 Idiots. A superstar who draws fans to the first day, first show of his film at 3 a.m. in Chennai's Rohini theatre; whose film has had the widest release across 3,000 screens worldwide; whose movie tickets were sold for up to $40 in some US theatres during the opening weekend; and whose releases are greeted with special prayers, milk abhishekams and public tonsuring, Rajinikanth proves that no matter where you are from (a Kannadiga who speaks Marathi) or how you began in life (as a bus conductor), success can be grasped faster than he can utter his "punch" dialogues.

For Sun Pictures, who spent Rs 200 crore on production and marketing, it was a trophy project. Sun Network Chairman Kalanithi Maran wanted a Tamil film for the international audience with an "international" standard, says Hansraj Saxena, COO, Sun Pictures. "After Eros's Ayngaran International pulled out because of the recession and there were no takers for Endhiran, Maran took on the project. He was sure he would get back the money he invested," says Tamil writer Vaasanthi.

Sun's marketing muscle, enveloping the state in surround sound, helped. Sun Pictures is part of the Sun TV network, which owns a dozen newspapers and magazines, 21 TV channels, 43 FM radio stations and controls 30 per cent of movie theatres in Tamil Nadu. Sun Network channels-Sun TV, K TV and Gemini TV-have been running trailers, its magazines like Kungumam, newspaper Dinakaran and the evening daily Tamil Murasu have done cover stories, and even the film's five-minute trailer, released in over 20 per cent theatres in Tamil Nadu, ran housefull at Rs 120 a ticket. Everything was to be done bigger and better, whether it was A.R. Rahman's music, Resul Pookutty's sound or Stan Winston Studio's special effects, making it a milestone in Indian cinema.

What's more, the film was smartly pre-sold. The Hindi theatrical rights were sold to Manohar Prasad's Gemini Film Circuit for Rs 23 crore, Telugu rights to Thota Kanna Rao of Sri Krishna Traders for Rs 27 crore, Kannada and Malayalam for Rs 14 crore, the Tamil overseas rights for Rs 17 crore, the music rights for Rs 10 crore, home video in all languages for Rs 17 crore, and tv rights for Rs 25 crore.

In Tamil Nadu, Sun Pictures retained the distribution rights, while in Chennai it sold them to a trusted lieutenant of dmk leader M. Karunanidhi, T. Nagar District Secretary J. Anbhazhagan, for Rs 27 crore. With a projected Tamil theatrical box office revenue of Rs 88 crore, the film will make more than a tidy profit. With 3,000 screens multiplied by four shows a day and at least 500 seats per show, the number of people who watched The Robot nationwide on opening day was an astounding 15 lakh. Add to all this Rs 20 crore earned by the Sun Network channels from the movie's promotional programmes, with ad costs averaging Rs 35,000 for 10 seconds.

This story is simple enough. It's the war between man and machine. Rajinikanth is Vazikaran, the Cornell and Stanford trained scientist who creates Chitti, a robot who will replace soldiers, by acting and thinking like a human. But he falls in love with Aishwarya, a medical student named Sana, who is already in love with Vazikaran. Naturally there is an evil Green Goblin kind of scientist, Bohra, played by Danny, who wants to exploit this weakness in Chitti's silicon heart.

The last 40 minutes is a real celebration for Rajini fans, as he struts on screen as Chitti, upgraded version 2.0, enjoying his wickedness, morphing from snake to giant man to enormous tower in one breath, intent on creating a new species, Robo sapiens. Industry sources say around Rs 50 crore was spent on the last 40 minutes and Rs 3 crore was spent for Rajinikanth's make-up alone. The sets for the climax cost Rs 5 crore. Beats zari borders and San Francisco skylines anytime.

For all its lightness of spirit and comic book humour, The Robot is also a triumph of technology. Domes light technology has been used to shoot 3D images of Rajinikanth for the first time to match the skin tone lighting for both the human and the Rs 4.8-crore robot. The camera report for the entire movie runs to around 1,600 pages and 40 per cent of the budget of the film has been spent on special effects.

"There are 1,500 CG shots in the film, of which 200 are complicated shots. Twenty-two scenes of the movie have been shot using animatronics and special make-up," says director Shankar, who last worked with Rajinikanth on Sivaji: The Boss. Everything is in excess. Fifty-seven costumes for Aishwarya and 55 for Rajinikanth were designed by Mary E. Vogt; dance moguls like Prabhu Deva, Raju Sundaram and Lawrence Raghavendra choreographed the five songs; and the locations varied from Vienna to Machu Picchu in Peru. Having raised the bar with The Robot, Rajinikanth will now have to do bigger and better. "After Chandramukhi in 2005, he was a superstar not just for Kollywood but also a top actor for the international audience," says software professional Simply Sundar, who also runs a fansite devoted to Rajinikanth. The actor's registered fan base has now crossed two crores, with 50,000 registered fan clubs and 50,000 unregistered.

In keeping with the apolitical nature of Endhiran, Rajinikanth has made it clear that politics is not his next act. He may have gone to meet Bal Thackeray during his Mumbai visit, but all he will publicly say about what is next is that he is planning a holiday. So it seems is Sun Pictures. With no direct productions in the pipeline, it intends to acquire distribution rights of the Rs 38-crore Vijay-starrer Kavalan. Topping the man who can divide by zero or drown a fish, as the jokes go, will not be easy.
Go to Expense details

Rajni and Robot - A Superhit Pair

What do you think, upto what extend a 61- year old man can do? No wonder there is no limit when it comes to the case of Rajnikanth, the ultimate super star. Yes, he can do anything and everything. He can shoot bullets with his finger, kill with a handbag, make mosquitoes apologise, clone himself a hundred times. I am talking about India's most expensive film which is also set to become India's most successful movie, Endhiran, the Robot!!! Reprots say that the film costed 200 crores has collected 300crores till now!


Expense: RS 200 crore,including Rs 45 crore to Rajinikanth, Rs 50 crore on promotion and Rs 6 crore to Aishwarya.
Total revenue: In first two weeks Rs 300 crore, including Rs 88 crore from Tamil theatrical, Rs 50 crore from overseas rights, Rs 23 crore from Hindi rights, Rs 27 crore from Telugu rights, Rs 25 crore from satellite rights, Rs 17 crore from home video, Rs 10 crore from audio rights Total number of prints 2,250 across 3,000 screens. With 3,000 screens multiplied by four shows a day, the number of people who watched the film nationwide on the opening day was 15 lakh.

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