Best Of T.Rajendar playlist

Few months ago, I was doing a series of posts on playlists of some of the popular music directors in Tamil and keeping up with my tradition of consistency in being inconsistent, was unable to continue posting for all the music directors. But couple of weeks ago, I read somewhere that in his forthcoming film Kettavan, Simbhu is planning to remix the Raakkaala velaiyila song from Mythili Ennai Kaadhali and that is when I listened to that song, which I had completely forgotten, again and it was as catchy as it used to be when I listened to it all those years ago. That is when I thought I should definitely write a post on the best songs of the versatile T. Rajendar.

We have seen so many heroes/ directors who have gone from hero to zero in the Tamil film industry (R.V.Udhaya Kumar, Ramarajan come to my mind instantly) but here is one guy who has become from something of an icon to almost a laughing stock for the current Tamil film followers. It is actually sad to see him do movies like Veerasami and make himself a butt of ridicule of so many jokes & mockeries. I really feel that he is (or I should rather say, was) too talented to do movies like these. But his actions in both the fields - political & cinema - have made things only worse.

Anyway, his music (from that 80s, that is) is something that I have always loved. I have always felt that his music is the closest that has come to the Maestro's songs from the 80s. Some of the songs from his hey days, you would have trouble believing that they are by TR and not actually by the Maestro. Listen to the way the Vaigai karai kaattrae song starts or the guitar usage in Vasantham paadi vara and you will understand I am saying.

Like with all my playlist series, one of the conditions while coming up with this list is that they all should fit in a 80 min audio CD. I had to relax my other preset condition that there can be only one song from a movie since there are just few movies of TR (less than 10) that I have listened to. So, here is my best of T.Rajendar CD compilation.

Indira logathu sundari raathiri kanavil vandhaalo from Uyir Ullavarai Usha
Vaigai karai kaattrae nillu from Uyir Ullavarai Usha
Endhan paadalgalil nee neelaambari from Uravai Kaatha Kili
Noolumillai vaalumillai from RayilPayanangalil
Vasantha kaalangal isaindhu paadungal from RayilPayanangalil
Vasantham paadi vara from RayilPayanangalil
Salangai Ittal oru maadhu from Mythili Ennai Kaadhali
Kanneeril moozhgum odam from Mythili Ennai Kaadhali
Engum mythili edhilum mythili from Mythili Ennai Kaadhali
Idhu kuzhandhai paadum thaalaattu from Oru Thalai Raagam
Kadavul vaazhum koyilile from Oru Thalai Raagam
Vaasamillaa malaridhu from Oru Thalai Raagam
Pookkala thaan parikkaadheenga from Pookkalai Parikkaadheergal
Moongil kaattoram from Pookkal Vidum Thoodhu (Mellifluous song with SPB at his best)
Kadhiravanai paarthu from Pookkal Vidum Thoodhu
Sollaama thaane from Oru Thaayin Sabatham
Moongilile paattisaikkum from Raagam Thedum Pallavi

Honorable mentions:
Aazhkadalil thathiluthu from Raagam Thedum Pallavi
Vizhigal medaiyaam from Kilinjalgal
Raakaala velaiyila from Mythili Ennai Kaadhali
En Aasai Mythiliye from Mythili Ennai Kaadhali
Amaidhikki peyar thaan shaanthi from Rayil Payanangalil

As always will look forward to your comments on any gems that I might have missed out.

Cool YouTube video

One of the coolest & most innovative YouTube videos I have ever come across. I am sure some of you would have seen this one before. Still wanted to share this for the sake of folks who haven't seen this before. Look at the number of views for this video - a staggering 20 million+ views :)

Incidentally, this video is also featured in the iPhone commercial where it talks about being able to watch YouTube videos in the iPhone.

Weekend Hikes - Wallace Falls

This was our second hike of the summer. A lot tougher one than the first hike mainly bcos of the elevation gain. It was 500 feet in the first hike whereas the elevation gained in this one was 1200 feet. The one thing that I have learnt from doing these hikes is that the distance covered in a hike does not really matter. It is pretty easy to cover longer distances. I have done hikes that are as long as 5 miles one way and I have not been very tired. But once the elevation gained starts increasing even by a few hundred feet, the hike gets a lot tougher. I realized this the moment I started this hike and was literally panting like a dog at the end of the hike.

But the good thing about this hike was that the falls at the end of the hike was way too beautiful. The sense of accomplishment that we get when we complete a tough hike like this is just unparalleled and when the destination of the hike has something as beautiful as the Wallace Falls, it makes the accomplishment all the more sweeter.

So, here are the details and photos of the second hike of the season.

Name: Wallace Falls
Date: June 10, 2007
Close By: Gold Bar off of US-2
Directions: Drive US-2 east from Everett to milepost 27.9 in Gold Bar. Turn left (north) at the Wallace Falls State Park sign. From there it's 1.7 miles to the trailhead.
Things to remember: 3 falls. The Middle Falls is the most beautiful of the three. If you are extremely tired, skip the Upper Falls. Trail is extremely beautiful, like walking through a rain forest. Trail runs parallel to a creek and you can find benches to get some rest & get some good views.
Distance (RT): 5.5 miles
Time (RT): 3 hours
Elevation: 1200 feet
Difficulty level: 2

Satham Podaathey & Thottal Poo Malarum - Yuvan's good form continues

Any 2-week stretch that sees the release of 2 albums from Yuvan is special and though this post comes late, I really did not want to not write anything about 2 good albums from Yuvan. The first thing that strikes you after listening to all the songs in these 2 albums is that Yuvan has not sung one song in its entirety in both the albums. He limits himself to a solo humming, a short rapping, joins the lead singer for a few lines and that is pretty much it. Usually whenever I start listening to any Yuvan album, I am anxious to find out whether Yuvan has spoiled a good song by his awful singing. So, with that major worry behind me, here is my take on the 2 new Yuvan albums:

Satham Podaathey - This is one of the Yuvan albums that I was looking forward to, ever since the project was announced sometime last year. Among all the contemporary directors, when it comes to extracting the best out of their music directors, I have always felt that Vasanth stands out clearly among everybody else. The reason why I rate him above the usual suspects like Mani Rathnam, Shankar, Selvaraghavan, Goutham Menon is very simple - all these directors have done it with mostly 1 or at the maximum, 2 different music directors. But Vasanth is one who gets the best out of any music director that he works with and that is his specialty. From the Maestro in Keladi Kanmani to the assorted composers in HNRAI, he has time & again gotten the best out of his MDs. Rhythm to me is definitely one of the best albums of Rahman whereas Aasai & Nerukku Naer (notwithstanding the lifts) are easily 2 of the best albums that Deva ever came up in his career. Even when Yuvan was just learning the ropes 7-8 years back, Vasanth got Yuvan to compose an amazing album - Poovellaam Kaettupar, which would surely rank among the top 5 albums from Yuvan. It is in this context that we need to judge Satham Podaathey, which IMHO falls definitely short of the expectations this album had generated among Yuvan fans.

It is not that the songs are mediocre. 4 out of the 5 songs are definitely good but except for Pesugiren and the Oh indha kaadhal songs, none of them can find their way into the awesome category and in an album of a Vasanth movie, that is precisely what one expects and definitely what a Yuvan fan like me expects. About the songs - Pesugiren pesugiren is easily my pick of the album. I am not sure who among the Viva girls has sung the Pesugiren song but it is too good. The saxophone bit in the interludes is amazing and soothing. And upon listening to the pallavi of the Oh indha kaadhal song, I was beginning to wonder sure why Adnan Saamy was roped in to sing this one. But it is in the charanams that Adnan Saami gets into his own and justifies Yuvan's decision. Anytime Yuvan uses some heavy beats, I love them. And here in this song, those heavy beats that he has used in the pallavi after the second charanam are just too good. Sudha Raghunathan's voice in Kaadhal periyadhaa is the only highlight. Endha Kudhiraiyil is a neatly-paced catchy song with Shreya Ghosal single-handedly carrying the song on her shoulders. That leaves us with Azhagu kutti chellam. The less said about it, the better. It could have been a way better song, if only the instruments that have been used were different. But something also tells me that this song might look good on-screen. We will have to wait on that one. Bottomline - Like I said earlier, definitely a let-down considering the pre-release expectations but nevertheless, an album whose CD will go into my Yuvan collection.

Thottaal poo malarum - I am not a big fan of P.Vasu (was in fact hating Thalaivar for selecting him as the director for Chandramukhi) and in spite of him being able to get some very good songs form the Maestro (& repeatedly at that), I was not looking forward to this album. Primary reason being the generation gap between Yuvan and P.Vasu. Vasu is one of the typical old school director who needs to stop directing movies (KB, Bharathiraja & even Balu Mahendra have joined the list long back). So, started listening to this album with no great expectations and will have to say that this album fulfills whatever expectations I had of this album. The Arabu Naade song is easily the best of this album. Just too good and rocks completely. One of those songs that will sweep you off the feet and leaves you wanting more. Haricharan is just mesmerizing. I simply loved the way he casually sings the lines 'Urudhu Kavignan Omar Khayyam-in kavidhaiyaa'. The lyrics gel perfectly with the tune of the song, with the lines 'Enakkirukkum sakthi..parasakhthi purinjukko' being my favorite. I should say that I was surprised that Vasu has been able to extract such a good song from Yuvan. Vittal sooriyani is a surprisingly good song, given the genre the song falls into - hero introduction number. It is groovy and Yuvan's rapping in between the charanams is pretty good. For me, I will carry these lines from the song - Meendum modhuvadhil Ghajni...Modhi velluvadhil Rajini. The prelude of Ennai pidicha is very curious but the song itself starts off very ordinarily but it is in the charanams where it gets beautiful. The oodallaa oodaa oodaa humming and the beautiful charanams more than make up for the rather ordinary tune of the song. Also, this is one of the songs which made me look up the name of female vocalist. Loved her voice. The Yuvan - Vijay Yesudoss combo is at it again in the Valaiyal karangal song. My second pick of the album and goes on to prove how Yuvan has mastered the knack of selecting songs perfectly suited for Vijay Yesudoss. His voice is so pristine and its a song that will grab your attention the very first time you listen to it. IMO, this song is actually as good as the Arabu Naade song. Kadathuren naan is your routine kuthu song. Definitely catchy but will go off your mind in a matter of days, rather than weeks. Vaadi vambu pennae song is actually good, without being great by any means. Overall, definitely a more-than-expected album from Yuvan, with the 2 songs in an endless repeat mode in my player.

Weekend Hikes - Twin Falls

Summer is the best time of the year in Seattle and so folks here always advise anyone planning on visiting Seattle to try to make it here during summer. That is when the beauty of this city in particular and the pacific northwest area in general is brought out to the core.

Among several other activities that one can do during summer here (playing cricket, golf & soccer to name a few), hiking is one of my favorites. Reason being hiking serves 2 purposes - the obvious reason of letting you burn a few calories and the second reason, is that it lets you explore the beauty of these surrounding areas. There are just numerous hikes in this area that constitutes of about 30-50 miles from my place and most of these hikes end up either in a lake or a waterfalls. I got inspired by this very idea of hiking from a desi group from Microsoft who have been doing this hiking & such activities for the last few years. Picking up from them, myself along with my friends decided to go on hiking during the summer time. Last summer was when it started and we did a total of 3 hikes.

But this year, we decided that we will do a minimum of 5 hikes this summer. We pick the hikes from this site Washington Hikes and also refer to sites likeVTrail, Washington Trails Association, Cool Trails and Local Hikes for more detailed information about the hikes that we have picked from the first site. So far, this summer we have already met our target of 5 hikes and since a good portion of the summer is still before us, we have now increased the target to 10 hikes. The one good thing we have done consistently is that we have started the hikes quite early in the day - as early as 6 am in the morning. Most of the times, we were the first ones to arrive at the trailheads. Starting the hike early solves 2 problems - the crowd and the sun. The sun is very benign when we start the hikes and it is when we start our climb down do we usually see all the crowd making their way up.

And just like how I have been posting these Weekend Movies posts, I thought may be I should start posting Weekend Hikes posts. I kind of wanted to have these posts form a sort of travelogue. So, it might be boring for folks from other places (except may be for the photos that I am planning to post) but I am sure folks who are reading this in the Seattle area will find something useful in here.

So, here are the details and photos of the first hike of the season.

Name: Twin Falls
Date: June 9, 2007
Close By: I-90
Directions: From Seattle, drive east on I-90 and get off at Exit 34 (468th Avenue). Turn right on 468th Avenue Southeast, drive about a half-mile, then turn left on Southeast 159th Street. Continue a half-mile to road end, parking area and facilities
Things to remember: Lots of kids; pretty simple hike.
Distance (RT): 2.5 miles
Time (RT): 2.5 hours
Elevation: 600 feet
Difficulty Level: 1.5

Weekend movies

Karuppasamy Kuthagaithaarar - We all wanted the first Tamil movie we were watching after Sivaji to be good and memorable. Well, KK did take care of the latter part but for all the wrong reasons, as it turned out to be one of most amateurish movies that I have watched in the near past. Even given that the intent of the movie is kind of new to Tamil cinema, it was a pure torture to sit through the movie. Every single actor in the movie (Karan included) just reeks of so much in-acting that it is hard to take it beyond a point. Case in point, the heroine's father who is a complete no show. It got too ridiculous beyond a point that I stopped focusing on the movie and instead started looking at the various Madurai spots that are being shown in the movie. The stage theater group just takes up too much unnecessary screen time. The first few minutes of showing their histrionics was mildly interesting but it soon became an overdose & pointless after a while. If you are from Madurai, if you are like me who is staying away from the city and if you want to watch different places from the Madurai city on the big screen & if you want to see actors speak some authentic Madurai slang, then give this a watch. Or else, stay away would be my suggestion.

12 Angry Men - This is one movie which you can find in the top 50 best movies of all time and a movie which has been in my to-watch list for a long time. Finally, got to watch it last weekend. Well, the movie just proved why it is considered so highly by everyone around. The whole movie is how a jury (of 12 men) deliberates among themselves on whether to convict a man accused of killing his own father. The vote of the jury has to be unanimous. When the discussion starts, save for 1 juror, everyone thinks that the accused should be sentenced to death. The lone crusader basically says that he is neither sure if the accused is innocent nor is he convinced with the evidences that were presented by the attorneys. As the film progresses, the way each one of the 11 jurors start getting convinced the other way around and then how it comes down to the last person whose ego rather than logic makes him disagree with all the other jurors have been beautifully portrayed. When some of the jurors who are shown as highly opinionated & egoistic and who think that the man is guilty, I was wondering how the director is going to manage their changing of opinion. It was very convincingly handled. Overall, a terrific movie and I am glad that I finally got a chance to take it off my to-watch list of movies.

Sivaji (Telugu) - Mainly wanted to watch the Telugu version for the 3 scenes that prelude the Adhiradi song bcos Thalaivar has imitated ANR, NTR and Chiranjeevi in the Telugu version. And needless to say, those 3 scenes did not disappoint and those 3 scenes were applauded the most by the Telugu audience. I personally liked the part where Thalaivar imitated ANR and the fact that the song used had the familiar Mazhaikkaala megam tune helped too. It was a laugh riot. During this watching, I was more into observing the reaction of the Telugu folks rather than myself watching the movie, bcos of 2 reasons - I do not understand Telugu (the obvious one) and secondly, this was my 6th time watching the movie and so almost every single scene in the movie was very familiar to me. One of my friends who watched the movie along with me is quite familiar with Telugu cinema and he was telling me that for them, they do not get this whole Thalaivar factor thing and thus, they either like or dislike the movie purely on the basis of its face value. That was actually a very interesting observation for me. Anyway, I did note that the Telugu folks laughed aloud a lot than what our folks did in a few of the comedy scenes in the first half. Also, wherever Tamil words are shown in the movie, care has been taken to replace them with Telugu words and letters. This was my first time watching a Telugu movie in the theater and I am happy that I did it with Sivaji. One trivia I recently came to know about Nayak and I am sure some of you might be unaware of this. The character name of Anil Kapoor in the movie is, hold your breath, Sivaji Rao Gaekwad :) I was totally surprised on hearing it. That shows how big a fan of Thalaivar Shankar is and that is exactly why we see so much of Thalaivar (than Shankar) in Sivaji. Shankar has put on his Thalaivar fan cap and given us all this memorable feast. My count still stands at 6 and badly want to watch it. Every bit of information about Sivaji that I read makes me want to watch the movie more and more. Looks like the film has been brought back for the second time in cities like Atlanta and Washington DC. We have a huge Thalaivar fan in our area who is doing all his to bring Sivaji back to Seattle in a month or two. I will have to wait till then to increase my count.

Cool Wedding Idea

Had been to the wedding of my friend over the weekend and came across this candy wrap that caught my eyes instantly. Inside this wrap was an ordinary Hershey's milk chocolate bar. But whatever was on both sides of the wrap was what captured my attention.

On the front of the wrap was a beautiful picture of the couple along with their names and the wedding date. The image below is how the back side of the wrap looked like. I just loved it. I especially loved the bar code section of the wrap where the wedding date has been printed in a bar code style.

So, folks who are planning a wedding anytime in the near future, can take a cue from this, if you like it. BTW, bcos of the unique date that was this past Saturday (07-07-07), it is believed that the number of weddings that had been planned on that day throughout the US was an unbelievable 65000 :) TIME magazine calls the day The Most popular Wedding day ever. Wow, that is something. No wonder, Tony Parker & Eva Longoria decided to tie the knot on the special day.

Monthly Sports Round-Up - June 2007

Justin Henin wins third straight French Open
Justin Henin wins her third straight French Open title by defeating Ana Ivanovic in the finals in straight sets. My interest in the women's draw extinguished the moment my favorite Serena lost to Henin in the quarters. So, was only academically following the proceedings from then on. And I have to write something about this Ivanovic girl - though I have come across her name before this finals, it was only during this finals that I really did looked up her in Google and was surprised to see how gorgeous she looks. In fact, a poll says that she is the second hottest female tennis player, second only to you-know-who (No, not Anna Kournikova as she has retired from professional tennis). I am sure I will be catching up on news related to Ivanovic from now on :)

Nadal follows suit
Well, what else to say than the fact that I was overjoyed watching the French Open finals. Though the game failed to live upto the hype that was given with both players committing unforced error after unforced error, the outcome of the match left me grinning. So, the one Grand Slam that matters to Federer still eludes him and I am so excited, atleast we get one more year of breathing space before Federer attempts to accomplish the impossible. The game was a huge letdown, and definitely not worth getting up at 6 am in the morning. Federer had an unbelievable 59 unforced errors and no player, no matter how good he is, can win a match after committing that many number of unforced errors. More than the striking number of unforced errors that both players committed, the statistic that stood out for me and the statistic which decided the final outcome of the match - conversion rate (in %) of break points by Federer. And the magic number was 6%. He got a total of ,hold your breath, 17 break points and failed to convert all but one of them and to me that effectively sealed the deal. And yeah BTW, this was Nadal's 3rd straight French Open title and improved his record at Roland Garros to 21-0.

Woolmer was after all not murdered
Finally, after weeks of leaving everyone following cricket feeling bad about the sport and its malice, the Jamaican police comprehensively declared that Woolmer was after all not murdered and he died bcos of natural causes. Though the news would have brought relief to the Woolmer family, those who followed the case were still not convinced of the final observation. On top of this, the man who performed the first autopsy on behalf of the Caribbean police, still insists that Woolmer was indeed murdered by manual strangulation. An unconvincing end to a sordid saga.

Spurs sweep the Cavs
Well, nobody including yours truly gave the Cavs any realistic chance in this series. But even to the likes of us, the sweep of the NBA finals came as a complete surprise. I really thought that the Cavs will steal atleast one game at Cleveland and force a Game 5. But that was not to be. Though the Cavs have to be applauded and appreciated for the progress they have made every single year since they drafted LeBron, unless something drastic is done through player trade or free agency, the Cavs or for that any team in the East is going to find it real hard to overcome the likes of the Spurs, Suns & the Mavericks and thus prevent Western conference team from winning the NBA crown year after year. As for as the Spurs were concerned, they took care of business in a matter-of-fact way. I was glad that they did not end up giving the Finals MVP award to Duncan again and instead gave it to Parker who IMO completely deserved it. The trio of Parker, Ginobili and Duncan was simply terrific and coupled with the perimeter shooting of folks like Brent Barry and Thomas Horry along with the defense of Bruce Bowen, it was all a cakewalk for the Popovich coached Spurs, as they raced to their 4th championship in 9 years. Dynasty, anyone?

BCCI embarrassed
In what turned out to be most telling proof of how the BCCI functions, South African Graham Ford turned down the offer to coach the Indian cricket team, merely hours after the BCCI offered him the job. Though the BCCI's way of functioning is known to all sun and sundry, the manner in which the whole coach selection matter was handled left even the biggest supporter of the BCCI running for cover. From the moment when Dave Whatmore was approached in Dhaka to the point when he was ruled out as one of the contenders to the point when John Emburey's name cropped out of nowhere to the final list, the BCCI just made a big mess of the whole process and were finally left where they started with. So, the Indian team will go to the English tour without a proper coach and Chandu Borde as the manager. What amused was the way in which the BCCI came out with the announcement even before Ford has accepted the offer. Pathetic handling from the richest body in world cricket.

Tiger finishes second best again
Tiger Woods, for the second major in a row, finishes second best to Angel Cabrera at the tough US Open PGA championships as he loses by 1 stroke. There is this one statistic that experts bring out whenever Tigers wins a PGA championship - that he is 12-0 when he starts the final round of a major with the outright lead or atleast a share of the lead. This defeat by Tiger brings to light another statistic that is usually overlooked and that also proves that Tiger is after all human. He is 0-for-19 when he starts the final round of a championship, trailing the leader by a few surmountable strokes. As for Cabrera, he becomes the first Argentine man to win a PGA championship in nearly 40 years. And guess what he was doing before he became a pro? He was a caddy. When asked what was his secret behind winning the Open, the chain-smoker coolly says "Tobacco". It is amazing how every time Tiger comes a close second or third in a major, it is always about how he failed to win it rather than how the actual winner won it.

Oden goes number one
As widely expected, Greg Oden was picked by the Portland Trailblazers as the number one overall pick of the 2007 NBA draft, considered by many as the deepest drafts since 2003 when Dwayne Wade went at number 4. Though experts were talking in length both about Oden and Kevin Durrant, it was almost a given in the days leading upto the draft that Oden will be the number one pick. And thus the Seattle Supersonics landed with Kevin Durrant, in what as one ESPN analyst put it, the easiest draft decision that any team has had to make in the last few years. The Sonics in fact went in for a complete overhaul as they traded Ray Allen, arguably the player who was the face of the franchise, to the Boston Celtics, in what was considered as a not-too-smart move by the Celtics. Another first that happened during this draft was that 8 players from the Ohio State- Florida national championship game in April, were drafted in the first round of the draft. That’s a first in the NBA draft history. Yi Jianlian of China, who is touted as the next big thing to emerge out of China, after Yao Ming, was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks as the 6th overall pick.

Sachin crosses the 15000 run barrier
The world got to see some glimpse of the Sachin of the old days as Sachin scored a scintillating 93 off 106 balls, on his way to becoming the first player ever (and in all probability the only man ever) to cross the 15000 runs barrier. At times, records like these do not seem to matter much, just because it is being broken by Sachin, who has made breaking records a personal hobby in his last 10 years. But seriously, if you think what it takes to score 15000 runs over 18 exemplary years as the best batsmen in the world, it is simply amazing. How many players have we seen who have produced consistencies that can be even compared against Sachin? Sure, the likes of Ponting, Dravid, Inzamam, Mohammed Yousuf, Hayden, Gilchrist, Lara have had their 2-3 years of brilliance but none can even come close to the consistency that Sachin has maintained for close to 18 years now. The man has been criticized like no other player but he has just carried on and let his bat do the talking. What he said in the aftermath of the match said it all, about how he views his criticisms: t is their job to have opinions. When I hold a cricket bat in my hand it's a far tougher and bigger job. That is what I will concentrate on. Cannot be said in better words. Here's congratulating the master on yet another milestone achievement in his stellar career.