"Australia, you bloody beauty!"

That was an immortal quote from Mathew Hayden after the Aussie's won the Ashes in Perth. Yeah, there are quite a few daddies in the team but then they have enough depth in the talent department. I couldn't watch a single ball of the Boxing Day test and missed seeing Warne get #700 :( What a bowler! He will be missed. Sorely.

Oz Oz oi oi!

Ronaldo

I wonder why Cristiano Ronaldo gets booed all over England (the Wayne Rooney incident is history, for heaven's sake) and perhaps wherever he plays, except in Portugal. Yes, he loves to show-off and has been guilty of trying to be flashy and cute at the cost of being effective. That doesn't take away anything from him otherwise - skill, vision and hard work. He was the man of the Man U vs Aston Villa match this weekend. He scored twice and made some brilliant moves/passes. The best way to shut the crowd. The first was a superb solo effort. The second goal of the match by Paul Scholes is the goal of the year, surely - a superbly struck volley from 25 yards. Perfection. Manchester United are just two points clear of Chelsea as Chelsea yet again clinched victory in the dying minutes against Wigan. Chelsea, unfortunately look the best team in the EPL. Any team is fine but not Chelsea. Please.

Useless List 2006

Kollywood
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Best Actor: Of Course!
Best Film: Pudhuppettai
Best Song: Munbe Va (oru Humble Pie parcel!)
Best Singer Female: Shreya Ghoshal [Munbe Va]
Best Singer Male: Naresh [Munbe Va] - Sounded kind of effeminate in this song, good nevertheless
Best Album: Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu
Best Lyrics: Thamarai [Karka Karka]
Best Picturization [Karka Karka]

Sports:
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Best Moment: Italia winning the World Cup
Best Goal: The 24-pass goal of Cambiasso [Argentina vs Serbia & Montenegro]

Sportspeak

Some quotes:

Link

• Jamie How and Craig Cumming, of New Zealand, were at the crease when a user, Bill Black, pinged Cricinfo with a mail. "I just heard somebody say that the batsmen are Cumming and How."
• "I think he thinks he's better than he is, and I think he's right." - Geoffrey Boycott on Kevin Pietersen
• "The bowler is Holding, the batsman's willey."

And...

• 'One accusation you can't throw at me is that I've always done my best.' - Alan Shearer
• "Julian Dicks is everywhere, it's like they've got eleven Dicks on the field."
• "If England are going to win this match, they're going to have to score a goal."
• "Jesus saves... but Lineker scores on the rebound"
• "He has always been a compulsive hooker" - Sunil Gavasakar

Bloody North Indies

All you North Indies people,
Don't fucking use the word 'ki' when you are speaking in English!
And don't give any sub-woofer effect when you say 'thought'. The woofer consonant is not necessary here
It's mail, and NOT 'male' and detail, NOT 'dittale'!
It's for the last 4 days and NOT 'since the last 4 days'! [NDTV, shame on you]
Don't say or write 'there' when you mean their!

Ivangala ellam thiruthave mudiyadha da???

Indian Hockey

Link

"Everyone goes on about our glorious past and it's one of the
reasons for our downfall, we haven't moved with the times." Secondly, he says,
"if they (older players) don't understand times have changed, then how will
common people understand."
He offers an example. He speaks of 30 astro-turf
grounds in Melbourne, yet two in Bangalore, three in Delhi, one in Mumbai, or
thereabouts. "Kids play hockey abroad on turf at five, I started playing
regularly on astro at 18.
Obviously their basics are better, while I had to
unlearn what I had learnt on grass. But former players don't understand that."
He tells of a domestic game, played at such slow motion, that "if I trained
for two days a week I'll manage domestic hockey." But international hockey, all
hard, furious running demands the most extraordinary daily labour to be
competitive. Which is why, he explains, "players pushed into the national team
find it had to bridge that gap."
The more he speaks, the more familiar seem
the stories. No coaches, he says, to teach kids modern drills. Fourteen support
staff for the Germans at the World Cup, four for the Indians. No continuity of
coaching whereas teams abroad are headed by the same man for years. Simple
things. Do-able things. Ignored things. Fixing hockey requires no magic, only
intent.

Kostin

Why is the time always 10:10 in watch/clock advertisements?

Remembering Shakti - The Concert

Chennai, Kamaraj Memorial, December 7th 7PM Tickets availble at Landmark from today onwards
Shakti are: U.Srinivas - Mandolin John McLaughlin - Electric/Acoustic guitar Zakhir Hussain - Tabla Selvaganesh - Ganjira Shankar Mahadevan - Vocals [Vikku Vinayakaram made a fantastic 'guest' appearance with his gatam]

It was pure bliss at the Kamaraj Memorial auditorium on December 7. Orgasmic. The total was greater than the sum of the parts and how. Each performer is a genius in his own right. Music of the highest quality. Incredible copulation of jazz and Indian classical music.

Mandolin Srinivas - My favorite. Was at his sublime best but i had a slight tinge of regret that his solos weren't long enough and he underplayed his bit (especially in 'Giriraja Sudha' which was his adaptation of the original kriti where Shankar Mahadevan absoluetly blew the audience's minds with his breathless precision controlled vocals). At one point he played some notes using just the slide and no fingering. Even John didn't have a 'reply'

Zakhir Hussain - Peerless! That he makes the tabla speak is well known but he had more - often he would use his left hand on the tabla as a bass drum and use his other for the cymbals and the snare playing vintage jazz drums. Genius. Sivamani was sitting in the front row watching his guru perform[An apparently drunk man came dancing into the hall mid-concert and started shouting his cheers and suggestions 'C'mon John, jazz it up a li'l more", "Bring on Vikku now man!". Similar to Prathap Bothan in Sindhu Bhairavi. Zakhir would have none of it and he announced on the mike with an ice-cold voice "The gentleman who seems to have a problem, if you don't find us living upto your expectations, please collect your money and leave. Otherwise, SHUT UP!" to be greeted by loud cheers and whistles of approval from the audience]

John McLaughlin - "Jazz meets Carnatic meets [in a couple of phrases] Latino meets Hindustani". Zakhir Hussain, after the first song exclaimed "Here's to the greatest Indian Classical Musician!.....(pauses for surprise)...John McLaughlin...." and "....its not easy even for Indian musicians to sit cross-legged for hours in concert..."

Shankar Mahadevan - 'Giriraja Sudha'. Enough said. [Wonder what this genius is doing in TFM singing 'kuthu' songs]

Selvaganesh - Adhu kayya illa machine-a?? One thani avarthanam in an original Shakti composition starting with jazz and seemlessly breaking into percussion solos had Selvaganesh playing non-stop for 15 minutes. For a few brief seconds the ganjira even doubled up as a bass for jazz :)

If a mere lay music-lover like me whose interest in music is grossly mismatched by the (lack of) knowledge could enjoy and appreciate it so much, wonder how it would have been for a real student or performer....


P.S: As expected, the coverage of the event in the media was a shame. The Hindu just had a little 'general' write-up in the second page. Haven't found a detailed piece/review or photo feature anywhere yet

Marudanaayagam

Link