Can somebody identify this church?

the web is more fun since last night....for sometime atleast

While sifting through the name throwings for the next president and 'opting outs' of the 'Somanth ji's and 'Atalji's (who by the way is my personal favourite to succeed Dr. Kalam), I landed up on what seems to be the president's blog! Now, I am an occassional nic.in visitor, but I am convinced this is a first...It does not seem amazingly interactive, but I can see a very detailed feedback page and all....it even has the powerpoint presentations that he made at different events...besides pictures of his herbal garden!!!

http://presidentofindia.nic.in

am just super excited bout this! so please bear with me if this is old news for anybody! It is not just the fact that the president has an 'e' existence....thats something you would expect today....but it is the care and effort that has gone into making it....the pics are not too heavy to download....the color scheme is not gawdy....the design is very tasteful....the content is staggering in volume and quality....many firsts there...;))

another reason why the web became more fun since last night is prem panicker's blog....or portal, or whatever you wanna call it.....for those to whom the name does not ring a bell, prem is the face of cricket journalism on the internet, for many mortals like me...lately, he has become editor (or something like that) of India Abroad - Rediff's NRI weekly and all that.....but there is nothing NRI about his writing....take a look even if my intro does not sound interesting...

http://www.prempanicker.com/index.php

Spidey 3 and Superstar

OK. Have finally seen the world's most expensive film. First day, last show. Spidey 3 is a lot of fun. I dont care too much for the 'Kirsten does not do justice to Stan Lee's MJ' or 'Goblin is the real hero in 3' foul crying. Honestly, I remember so little of the spidey strips I read in school that I would'nt notice it if they had made goblin a busty blonde! OK...I accept am not a confirmed spidey fan...back then and even now, my allegience was / is always with a certain bat in a cape.

(spoiler alert!)

Back to Sam Raimi. Surprisingly, the thing that sticks out like a sore thumb in the film is the special effects....Now, I am pretty sure this had nothing to do with my lack of sleep the previous night. The special effects just feel like....well....'special effects'! Especially the scene where the crane rips the building apart.....i could have sworn that crane looked like 3D art.... is it just me?

or may be its because I assumed you could do a lot with $258 Million (Now, that is more than 10 times the budget of Bhansali's Devdas - arguably the most expensive Indian film ever made. It is also 80,000 times the budget of 'haze'!).

And yes....most of the reviewers are right.....Tobey cries way too much and removes his mask way too many times.....but Kirsten Dunst is exceedingly adorable. especially in her 'waitress in a Jazz bar' attire...I know not too many people agree with me, but I think she is a real beauty....kinda a 'hot gurl next door' (in spite of 'Marie Antoinette').

Now to the best part....the story line.....our hero is a super hero....he fights for justice....he has a lady love and a best friend....the friends have a misunderstanding....best friend thinks that the hero killed his father....a rift....but by the end of the film, best friend realizes his mistake and they both together fight the bad boys and save the girlfriend......sounds familiar?...remember Annamalai?? James Franco reprises Radha Ravi!!!!

OK that was a stretch....but it really got me thinking....when the protagonist is a super hero, I guess your options as a writer are very limited.....you pretty much 'hang' interesting emotions around the central character and spin the story....a.k.a masala....so I guess there is in fact a 'universal' method to the madness...be it spidey or Sivaji-The Boss!!

PS: by the way....on another note, I think I am going to offer an online jackpot to anybody who can translate Sivaji songs to Tamil....

Pyaasa...

Just read that it is the 50th anniversary of Pyaasa. It is amazing how this song stunns every single time....literally...(the entire movie does Ofcourse, but this is Special)....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSo3KVwrp8M

OK...I Really need to get back to work now....

Godavari...

Finally got to see it. Had been on my mind for so long now. Actually got to see it with dad and as a original DVD...double whammy! thank god.....for a locale like this, it would have been the ultimate sin to have caught a camera print online....

very fresh and very neat....completely loved it (inspite of the plain saree rain song and 'action oriented sub plots')....Kamalini Mukherjee looks like a Million Euros! I had never thought of her as eye candy types after vettaiyadu.....but she really is.....and did i mention hot?...And I think I HAVE to marry the person who dubbed for her....

The songs are haunting....K.M.Radhakrishnan (????)...definitely radar worthy...and I had no idea Badrachalam and Rajamundri were such 'wow' places.....

will completely recommend it.....