Abstract Art..

ever wondered what could be so valuable about those splatters of paint on a canvas sheet that does not look like anything that you could possibly imagine?or why people pay millions to collect these senseless(in my opinion of course..) drawings (which they call abstract art) by guys with probably inflated egos, who existed during the renassaince..enough of me continually going on about the "abstract nature" of people who buy these abstract art which are not gonna make any sense but to the painters themselves.. but i have nothing against abstract art.. just the phonies who act and talk like they were renassaince culture vultures.. especially when they happen to be our regular next door asians.. i can bet they themselves do not comprehend half of the text(which they would have memorised from some website) they regurgitated to me..
anyway coming back to the point.. havent been updating the blog recently.. honestly, nothing much happened.. but i was having fun with creating all the "abstract" pictures for this site.. finally got some time to play around with Photoshop. its actually a versatile picture editting tool.Its quite amazing what you can do with jus lines and circles( which is wat i named the latest jalsa poster, hope some idiot comes forward to pay me a few hundred bucks for this..) Quite surprisingly, the shout box in my blog has suddenly come to life. it draws more feedback then the comment box, but i guess this is due to shout box giving a wider scope to comment on
..if only Leonardo had adobe.. damn....
good nite ..

Service Oriented

Well , nothing much to be said.. Read a forum on the government emphasizing on being service oriented. So, being a good citizen, i obliged and contributed to their proposal..
In case you are wondering what i am talking about.. take a look to your right buddy.. now you got the option of choosing the theme. You get to choose what you want to see when you are reading my blogs . ha, try beating that for service.. in a blog at least.. the con is that you only get 2 pictures for options as of now.. the third one does not count.. Unless you like blurred and blown up images..still in the works of fine tuning, getting the script to work was abit cumbersome.. ok people good nite..(sometimes i wonder , whom am i saying good nite to...)

Ghost Rider...

Had a good workout today along with great company.. its fun to indulge in healthy living as a group.. and i was kind of surprised to see the gym relatively empty(which is good as i dunt wanna lose face by carrying feather weights compared to the tonns the regulars carry).. considering it was peak hours and the weekend.
but i felt like i screwed myself when i headed out to eat at Macs.. didnt eat much tho, jus 2 burgers and a drink.. thats all..anyway while all of us were eating away.. the topic on supernaturals suddenly popped up.. and i being a good NS Man related all the "things" that i saw during my 2.5 year stint in Jln Bahar Camp.. so just like that one topic lead to another.. and by the time i reached home, i was on the topic of comic book heroes.
hmm.. so when you put the 2 topics together.. you get supernatural comic heroes. and who do you all get reminded of when i say supernatural comic book heroes?? keep thinkin.. for me it reminds me of who else.. the Ghost Rider..
He is one kick ass superhero with an equally kick ass motorbike who unfortunately does not seem to be getting much publicity.. guess he went underground.. anyway Nicholas Cage is playin the character.. but somehow or rather the movie really never kicked off..i assume that it got shelved due to a whole lot of other marvel and DC adaptions coming to the big screen. anyway i know i have been jumping topics.. but cant help it.. jus curious any othe Ghost Rider Fans out there??

The 3D Tour

The Magnum Opu... enough of this crap.. ok AR Rahman is coming to town.. God knows why he named his tourage " the 3rd dimensional tour".. do not get the wrong idea.. i am an ardent fan of ARR .. i might not have all his tracks and albums to prove my fanaticism but i really believe he is the best thing to happen to the Indian Movie/Music scene... Sure there are others such as Yuvan (YSR) and Ilayaraja (Honey music breeze) and various others with various synonyms..but none can actually compare with ARR.. he is simply one cut above the rest.. His music have this magical way of touching the soul.. one might not like his tunes instantly but slowly it creeps into your head and roots itself.. for some unknown reason , you simply cant get it out of your head.. i am sure all of you would have experienced it at some point of time.. for me, this time was the song ," marangothiyae" from A.A (formerly known as B.F).. even in my busiest moments , that song keeps looping over inside my head like some background score ..but the loop doesnt go beyond the words "marangothiyae...marangothiyae.." i wonder why..

coming back to the point..have you all checked the pricing for his show? if not pay a visit to SISTIC.. my goodness, the closest seats cost you 500 bucks and the cheapest seats are 50 bucks ( which doesnt make a difference as you are gonna invest another 45o bucks on telescope set, considering the distance between you and the stage)..hmmm.. i am a fan of his music, no doubt about it.. but would i pay this much ( even if i have the cash) to go and listen to music which i am eventually going to hear in MP3s (from the Net) or on SUN TV during the next Deepavali or Pongal..

Lets say that i am going in a group of 3 and i purchase the best seats.. i would have blown 1.5K out of my pockets.. 1.5K , an average man's monthly salary.. i know its a different experience but is it worth it.. We think so much when we come across a donation box to donate a few bucks.. but when it comes to ARR.. hmm.. any ideas why the partiality in the thoughts.. comments are welcome.. but its really gettin annoyin to see spam in my commentaries..

The Overdue Pics (just a sample)

I know .. i know.. my update column has been sayin that the birthday pictures are gonna be hosted on my blog.. but they never seem to arrive.. well here they are finally.. pls do take into consideration that the album lena presented me, had no proper shot of anyone.. all were candid.. if anyone is not happy with the pictures being posted up.. let me know.. i shall see what i can do dependin on my mood..


this is the closest to a proper shot i have and guess what our jalees did... he chose to show his telepathic brinjal smile...


ha.. Sha showing off her prized posession.. her tongue..


Doesn't Safi bring us back on a nostalgic trip?? remember... " Aunty i want Nasi Lemak and fried chicken and ..." back in primary school...


I warned Shan that teh ahliya is too strong for her.. didnt even get to finish her first cup and already she strated losing it.


This is one of my favourites.. Jalees declaring his gay feelings for chandra... and chandra actually is shying away... and our nasi lemak aunty is doing what she does best.. give the colgate advertisement smile.


The impossible had happened.. yasmin finally managed to laugh.. hey congrats.. keep it up..

New Look

Trying out some new look for raascal since i got some time to kill.. got sick of the old one.. page looks quite decent except that the banner turned out slightly larger than expected... blogspots actually cool.. it allows you to modify the site to your own taste.. You are not bound by any design or technical template.. hmm thinking of what to add next.. the idea of a stat counter flies out the window.. figured that most of the hits on the page would be by none other than myself, checkin to see if what i typed turned out right.. hmm still thinkin.. suggestions are welcomed.. type them at the shout box..

The MAGNUM AAPU-S

Ever wondered what the word magnum opus really mean? You would have come across it a few times .. Its also constantly splashed across the cine websites.. remember stuff like, "kaaka kaaka, the magnum opus of Surya" , " Anniyan , the latest magnum opus by Vikram.." or the ever popular.. "Marudhanayagam, the magnum opus of Kamal Hasan..."

I was having a chat with jalees when the magnum opus topic suddenly popped up and he too shares the same sentiments with me... why are all the writers/editors using the term like there is no tomorrow? Or are they trying to impress themselves by using such terms. ha ha. i mean, to the best of my knowledge, magnum opus means the best ever work of an artist or a writer. So are these cine site editors trying to say that Kaaka Kaaka is going to be Surya's best work ever or that Vikram will never have anymore hits after Anniyan? Thank God that our main man kamal has not released his "magnum opus" Marudhanayagam.. I believe he reinvents his style along with time and always raises the bar on the standard of acting, therefore its difficult to state his best ever.. Even at half a century..(tryin to be chim like the Magnum Opus Editors(whoeva they may be)) , Kamal still has got something to offer. Unlike his counterpart, whose "baba" was touted as the magnum opus (can u believe it?) .. i personally thought it was his "Magnum Aapu"till chandramukhi saved his grace.

Anyway, just for the benefit of any cine writer or editor chancing upon my blog...

mag·num opus
Pronunciation: 'mag-n&m-'O-p&s
Function: nounEtymology: Latin: a great work; especially : the greatest achievement of an artist or writer

just my bit for society..

the misunderstood invisible child..

i have been approched by many friends of mine.. and they all ask the same question. what is autism? some formulate their own ideas and co relate autism with low IQ or mental retardation. but sadly their understanding is no where close.. to put it honestly, not even the teachers aiding the autistic children have a full understanding of autism or its culture. stated below is a brief description of what autism is.. hopefully this helps in better understanding the child whom we have branded as mad/retarted/low iq..

What is Autism?
Autism is a biological disorder of the brain that impairs communication and social skills. It encompasses a broad spectrum of disorders that may range from mild to severe. Autistics have been described as being in their “own world”. Many high functioning autistics describe two worlds; “their world” and the “outside world”. Many autistics describe their experience as "thinking in pictures", to quote Dr. Temple Grandin. There are serious sensory challenges that accompany autism, and some say are the source of autism, that must be understood to fully comprehend the disorder .

• Some of the markers are as follows:
• Absence or delay of speech and language:
• Repetition of words (echolalia) in place of a normal verbal communication.
• Hand leading to communicate in place of verbal requests.
• Absence of verbal communication.
• Difficulty relating to other children and adults:
• Absence of eye contact. (When directly in front of the child, they may look in every direction, except at the individual in from of them)
• Apparent aloofness
• Lack of interest in other children and what the other children are doing.
• Lack of response to verbal requests.
• No response when name is called.
• Avoidance of physical contact (even with parents and siblings).
• Indifference to others in distress or pain.

Odd behaviors:

• Self-stimulation, spinning, rocking, hand flapping, etc
• Inappropriate laughter or tantrums for no apparent reason
• Inappropriate attachment to objects
• Obsessive compulsive behaviors i.e. lining up objects
• Repetitive odd play for extended periods of time. Example: stacking blocks for a half hour at a time
• Insistence on routine and sameness
• Difficulty dealing with interruption of routine schedule and change
• Possible self injurious behavior or aggressive behavior toward others

Sensory Challenges:

• Hyper (over) or Hypo (under) sensitivity of the five senses (See the discussion below)
• Abnormal responses to the senses
• A lack of response to pain or an overreaction to something seemingly minor such as a door closing

Sensory dysfunction :

In order to fully understand autism, a thorough knowledge of the sensory challenges that autistics face is necessary. For a typical individual, we take the normal function of our five senses for granted:
1. Vision 2. Hearing 3. Touch 4. Taste 5. Smell

Some Examples of the impact a dysfunctional sensory system may have.
A Walk Through the Neighborhood
A typical individual has no problem walking down the street with a friend, having a conversation, hearing the sounds of the neighborhood in the background, smelling the blooming spring flowers, and maybe chewing gum, all at the same time.
For an autistic individual, who has a dysfunctional sensory system, this typical experience may be completely overwhelming. The individual may be completely oblivious to the sounds of the neighborhood such as an ambulance screaming by, or may be totally overpowered by the smell of blooming flowers. The sun shining through the trees may be such an intense experience, it may inhibit the individual from being able to concentrate on walking down the sidewalk.
Thus this inability to mesh the senses appropriately may profoundly impact someone's ability to "act" and communicate in a "normal" fashion.

all the description gives us an impression that it cant happen to our children. to statistically put it.. 15 years back, 1 in 20000 child had autism, 10 years back 1 in 5000 had it.. now 1 in 166 have it.. as the spectrum of autism broadens the odds narrows.. pls dun take life for granted..

Disclaimer:
All contents except the first and last paragraphs are from the website http://www.autisminfo.com

disclaimers and updates..

never ever under estimate the importance of a disclaimer.. sure it might be irritating to always state a disclaimer before you begin any sentence , but if it can save your ass at critical times, why not? i mean a disclaimer allows you to speak out almost(even this turns out to be a disclaimer) anythin varying from points of views to statements against another individual/organisation... and you still get to go back home in one piece after that or you still get to see some cash in your bank account.

anyway, coming to point. just added a few things to raascal, the "disclaimer" and the "any updates" , people familiar with me should know why i added that in.. customizing the html codes was like being back in poly, generating a website for a school project.. but it was fun. planning to integrate live broadcasts.. so if you all have anything to say .. let me know.

Bose..

people.. those who have not heard ARR's recent release.. bose: the forgotten hero, please do.under anycost. was just listening to some of its songs.. ARR has this gift to infuse emotions to his melodies.. almost the entire collection is drenched in patriotism.. especially the track "aazadi" .. the repeated shots of goose bumps while listenin to it sends the body into a feverish state.. guess ARR is coming back to form.. hadnt felt like this after mudhalvan and rhythm..by the way the story of the movie seems to have hit some controversy, which is why the release of this movie is hindered.. read more abt it on http://in.rediff.com/movies/2005/may/13bose1.htm

joining the band wagon...

finally the inselberg (me of course..) has succumbed to fate..
the consequence..... raascal.blogspot.com

told myself never to start a blog and be another sheep... a sheep that follows the in thing along with the countless other bloggers.. the pain of betraying my own code is tremendous.. the shame .. the agony.. indescribable!

but jalees has managed to shrive me from my guilt by highlighting(knowingly or unknowingly) some of bloggings advantages..

none the less.. have to come up with some commandments for myself...
1) i am not gonna enter my daily events..
2) i shall not write anythin for the sake of writing a blog..
ok for now i shall stop with this 2.. shall ammend the list as and when needed..
what have i gotten myself into..