New york

After a long wait and some meticulous planning, the trip to New york city materialized. We(I, my colleague, his wife and kid) had three days with us and i think we made the most of it in New york, last month. Times square was wonderful - full of colours, bright lighting (in the night) and exuberant. We simply travelled by all means of transport in Manhattan for our places to visit - by foot, subway train, bus and even a rickshaw.
Things we did in New york -

1. Climbed to the top of the Empire state building
2. Went on a water taxi to Liberty statue
3. Walked on the Brooklyn bridge
4. Visited the Top of the rock
5. World famous Apple store at 5th Avenue
6. 'See it All' Tour around New york
7. 'See The lights' Tour around New york
8. Madame Tussauds wax museum
9. Sumptuous meal at Saravana bhavan (trip not complete without it :) )
10. Visited Ground zero where WTC once majestically stood and its memorial under construction.

This was quite a satisfying trip and one more check on my places-to-visit list.

Nondhasamy

Since a zillion articles on the web/print have already thuppified the movie , Kandhasamy, i'll restrain from writing a review on it. But i still have to tell you how it made me a 'Nondhasamy', by the time the end credits rolled. Vikram, as an actor, might have put in a lot of effort but is simply nullified by the lack of it from the director as a story teller.

Whenever the CBI director (played by telugu actor Krishna) starts talking,

i was searching the screen for subtitles, I was in splits when i realised he was talking in Tamil. A sleazy role is all a desperate shriya got paid for or was that the only avenue she could pursue to make an impression ? Vadivelu is becoming the most serious comedian these days, few people find his jokes funny. Vikram more than made for it by putting on display some hilarious stuff, the 'kozhi' dance and sound, whenever he was supposed to play an act of god. This no doubt made an already missing-in-the-film vadivelu redundant. Seriously. :)

The camera work was slick i thought, how much of it was relevant though is a different subject. One thing that eludes me is "Why directors are hell bent on making cameo

appearances" in their movies these days, when they should actually be focusing on the script and screenplay. It only makes things worse in this case. I hoped to see the first super-hero movie in tamil, guess i'll have to wait for some more time or settle for the tamil-dubbed hollywood flicks for the time being. I think this still ended up close to a mini-review. :)

Ta

People, wats up ?

After precisely 60 days, i return to blog. Think its my biggest sabbatical since i started to blog. Thanks to work and a little bit of touring, haven't had a chance to write. Wouldn't have had much to write though.

Its been raining here non stop since last friday, welcome in a largely rain-free and sweltered Texas. But its flip side - no sunshine, kinda leaves your day dull and lifeless. Its been close to a week now, it needs to stop, 

so much so that someone would start dancing (and sing "Rain rain go away, come again another day") 

to make it go away. Dancing to stop a rain, ironic ?

Visited Niagara falls over last weekend. Quite a sight. A couple of fun activities in and around Niagara falls made the trip eventful. Buffalo, NY (where niagara falls is) is a beautiful place in itself and had a pleasant weather over the weekend. The boat ride - called 'Maid of the mist', which takes you close to the Horse shoe falls to feel the mist and the force of the water blasted on your face is one of a kind. The walk on the wooden stairs of "Cave of the winds" into the Bridal veil falls is like getting drenched under our own Koutraalam falls but only this has 10 times more volume and height. We also went on a speed boat tour on the river niagara,

called Whirlpool Jet tour. It wasn't out of the world, but worth trying for the white fresh water splashing on you when the boat rides into rough waters. Since the Niagara river acts as an international border between the US and Canada, it was kinda weird driving along the banks of river niagara and couldn't help feel how close  you were to entering canada (punishable offense though, when you dont have a canadian visa).

Ta