100 days reign of The Boss

Things have been pretty hectic here at my end and that is the reason for this scarcity of posts here. The fact that I was not able to post something even for the completion of 100 days of The Boss should bear testimony to the same. Anyway, got some time today and with the logic "Better late than never" at the back of my mind, decided to post about the 100th day celebrations of Sivaji, that we had in Seattle last Saturday.

Just like how I was apprehensive when the movie was screened during the 50th day weekend, I was a lot worried whether there will be decent enough crowd for my friend (who was the one screening the movie) to at least break even. He was screening the movie just for the sake of fans like me and I want o proudly disclose here that, it was just for the sake of me that he changed the timing of the show from the usual 1pm start to a 7pm start, just bcos I had something else going on during the afternoon. So, I was even more worried and I had in fact decided even before the movie that if my friend were to incur a loss bcos of the movie, I will share some of the loss. So, that was my mentality heading into the weekend.

On the way to the theater on the D-day, I get a call from my friend asking me if I still needed the 10 tickets that I had earmarked for my friends. I said "Yes, I do need that. But why are you even concerned about it?". He goes "The movie might be a sell-out and that is the reason why I want to make sure that all your friends get a ticket". I really thought that my friend was joking around. It was hard for me to believe when he first told me that bcos there was no way the movie could have had even sold half of the tickets.

I was one of the first to reach the theater and as time of the show neared, the crowd swelled and it was about 20 mins before the show did I realize that my friend was indeed serious. The theater was brim to the full and we still had people coming. Since we did not want family audience to go back without a ticket, fans like me (a good 15 of us) decided to relinquish our seats and watch the movie standing from the side (anything for Thalaivar J). Even after doing that, we had to send 30-40 folks back home bcos of the non-availability of tickets. During all this commotion, I was sporting a big smile, a smile of just having seen a miracle happen. A smile arising out of sheer pride being a fan of Thalaivar, the only man who can pull a crowd to the theater in this remote corner of the world. Like I had said a few posts before, it is hard for Tamil movies to attract the Seattle Tamil audience to the theater even for just 1 show. And The Boss was being screened for the 12th time here in Seattle and that too on the 100th day, by which time the movie would have been available for download from all web sites. In spite of all these obstacles, Thalaivar pulls off a miracle, thus proving his clout and hold over the Tamil folks, no matter which corner of the globe they reside.

At least half of the crowd consisted of fans like me and that only mean one thing - mayhem and celebrations inside the theater. It was almost as though we were watching the premier show on June 14th (a day I can never forget). As the movie progressed, Thalaivar fans who had been seated in various corners of the theater, started to group together in the place where we were sitting and the excitement naturally grew from then on. All the agmark Thalaivar scenes – Thalaivar intro, Vaaji song intro, Style song, Adhiradi song, Mottai Boss intro, to name a few – drew the maximum applause & whistles while some fans like me were busy at the front of the theater throwing up torn paper pieces before the screen.

Personally for me, I was starved - this was my first glimpse of Thalaivar on the big screen after close to 90 days and in spite of watching all those scenes and songs in the form of YouTube videos, the experience was just electric. I was way too excited and elated during the screening. This was my 7th time watching the movie and I simply wasn't bored for one sec. If ever there was one thing I felt during this watching (and if I were given a choice to make just ONE change to the movie, that would also be the thing), it was as the Adhiradi song was being played, when I really thought how good it would have been if only Lawrence had been made the choreographer for all the songs, instead of just one. Shankar who had made the movie as a Thalaivar fan for Thalaivar fans could have made this one more thing for us which would have made the movie even more memorable. The Adhiradi song is one song which I do not think I will ever get tired of watching. Everything about the song is just perfect, making it easily the best Thalaivar song of all time, when it comes to picturization.

I don’t know what else to say than "The Boss rocks!""

Weekend Hikes - Margaret Lake

Date: July 08, 2007
Close By: Snoqualmie Pass, WA

Directions: From Seattle take I-90 to Snoqualmie Pass, get off on Exit 54 and turn left. Follow the frontage road for Gold Creek. At 3.9 miles turn left (uphill) on road 4934. Continue 0.3 miles to the Lake Lillian/Margaret trail head.

Things to remember: Toughest hike of the year (at least until that point). The first half of the hike just kills you. Almost like a staircase. Trail goes through a lot of bushes. But once it gets into the woods, the trail becomes normal. The single most remarkable thing about the trail is that it offers amazing views of Mt. Rainier and keechelus Lake that runs alongside I-90. Even at this time of the year, the way down to the lake was mostly covered with snow. As a result, the trail could not be located beyond a point. So, we just walked through the snow and got to the lake. The lake as such was a disappointment as it was very small and it was almost like a pond. But we will remember the hike for the awesome views of Mt. Rainier it offered on the way.

Distance (RT): 5.0 miles
Time (RT): 3 hours, with 15 mins at the lake
Elevation: 1500 feet in, 300 feet out Level: 2.75

Some photos from the hike:

Very funny commercial

Was watching a TV show that listed the 100 most funny commercials, from around the world and though they did not list the commercials in any particular order, this video above was listed as the grand finale and to me, this one was easily the most funniest among them all.

One little surprise was that there was no commercial from India. That was a surprise bcos commercials from even countries like Thailand had found their way to the list.

Monthly Sports Round-Up - August 2007

India wins test series in England for the first time in 21 years

This was truly an achievement. Though Dravid's decision against enforcing the follow-on in the 3rd test would be a black mark on the otherwise perfect series for India, I was so excited about this victory. And more than anything else, I felt happy for Sachin bcos his cricketing resume now would include a series victory in England. Same goes for Dravid and Ganguly too. These 3 guys have really stuck together after the world cup debacle and have guided this team to an extraordinary achievement. Though umpiring errors cost Sachin 2 centuries in this series, I was very happy that Sachin was able to make some sizeable contribution in 2 of the 3 tests. Zaheer Khan deserves special appreciation bcos it was his spell in the second innings of the 2nd test that ultimately tilted the test & thus the series in India's favor. Way to go, Team India.

Barry Bonds breaks the all-time HR recordSo, there it happened. Barry Bonds finally broke the most significant record in all of team sports, as the ESPN analysts would say. Though it has been only the last 3-4 years that I have been following baseball, I can kind of get an idea what this record means, by watching all the ex-players and Hall of Famers dwell on it. It is definitely a remarkable achievement, given the fact that he has had to maintain his HR hitting practice over a period of well over 20 years. But the one thing you can find when you talk to folks here about Barry Bonds is this - he is an extremely polarizing figure. No matter what side of the fence you are, this is one heck of a record.

A-Rod reaches 500 HRs mark
It was a special week where 3 important milestones were reached - Bonds breaking the HR record, Tom Glavine becoming the 23rd pitcher in MLB history to record 300 wins and A-Rod breaking the 500 HR barrier. He is having a dream season and though I am not a big fan of him, I do follow each one his HRs. He becomes the youngest MLB player to break the 500 HR mark and in all probability, unless a major injury or some scandal impedes him, the experts expect him to break Barry Bonds' record in the year 2013.

Tiger gets one step closer to Jack
With the 13th Major victory of his stellar career, Tiger moved one closer to the most holiest of golf records that stands in the name of Jack Nicklaus. As many ESPN analysts point out, it is now a matter of when rather than if and they are already predicting the British Open in the year 2010 when he will ultimately break the record. Tiger came into this tournament 0-3 this year in majors and by winning it, made sure that 2007 won’t be year when he will go without winning one. The tournament as such was over when he shot a mind-boggling 7 under par in the 2nd round, after which others were merely playing catching up with him. Tiger's record of winning a major when he is leading or sharing the lead at the end of the 3rd round remains intact. This BTW was Tiger's first major victory after the birth of his daughter.

Is he the answer to our prayers?
In a span of 3 days when he beat the top 3 players in men's tennis (Nadal, Federer and Roddick), Novak Djokovic made many experts come out in the open with the very question we all have been asking ourselves the past few years: Have we finally found the answer who can break the monotony of the FedEx? May be it is too early to speak about it but he has done something for the first time in 13 years (since Boris Becker did it in 1994) - a player has beaten the top 3 players in the world enroute to an ATP tour championship. Though he is yet to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament, he has already gotten to the semis twice (at the French and Wimbledon) before losing to Nadal on both the opportunities. This US Open will serve as a perfect platform for him to put all the questions about his true talent & promise to rest. And Oh, BTW, he is all of 20 years old.

The US Open begins
The final Grand Slam tournament of the tennis calendar begins in New York city. Last year, this time around I was in NYC watching the matches, amidst all the rain delays and even as the Andre Agassi farewell story was unfolding. My only wish as far as this Open is concerned is that we should have a new men's champion whereas on the women's side, I would like to see Serena win it all. When the draw was released, there was a headline in ESPN saying that Federer could meet Roddick in the quarters. I was like 'So what?". Like Roddick has any chance against Federer. With the sport losing its ground in the US in terms of both popularity and the quality of up & coming players, the experts do all they can do summon up interest in the Open but then it makes for some awful media coverage when all you can write about is Roddick meeting Federer in the quarters where Federer is most likely to sweep him off without breaking a sweat.

Michael Vick pleads guilty
In a widely expected decision, Falcons star QB, the face of their franchise and one of the NFL's most exciting players, Michael Vick pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and involvement in the killing of 6 dogs. This incident kind of completely took me by surprise. I mean, why would anyone do that when they know it can cost them their whole life. Of course, news of professional athletes getting involved in petty crimes (you know, DUIs, marijuana possession, strip club fights, etc) have been doing the rounds. But then, none of the players involved in them were big time players. Here, the case was different though for Michael Vick is the highest paid NFL player. When you have that kind of money at stake (130 mil in 10 years), it just did not make sense for me as to how someone can risk all of that for something as trivial as this dog fighting? Weird are the ways these athletes behave. But amidst all this, there was something I really liked - when Vick addressed the media, he did not read a prepared statement but rather spoke from the heart. That was definitely rare and the media rightly picked on it. Now the question that is on everyone's mind is - will the NFL let the ban coincide with his jail term? Bcos that decision could well be the difference between his career taking off again or not.