Bommarillu(Telugu, 2006)

With apologies to my good friends B and L, who cannot even begin to comprehend simple pleasures in life like watching a decent Telugu movie, this movie is a gem. No vulgarity, no unnecessary scenes, no irrational nonsense that normally goes with this language movies. Absolutely perfect in every sense of the word. It has been sculpted with such meticulous care and passion that I haven't seen in a Telugu movie in a long time. It blends opposites beautifully and captures the undercurrent of that particular society with a coherent storyline, dazzling photography and a memorable score. One ought to be, but really should not be, surprised to know that the movie was directed by a first time director. The only problem with this kind of thing is that the chap would find it hard pressed to match the brilliance of his first masterpiece to subsequent attempts as normally happens. If one notices, the first movies of now well known directors, were decent but not brilliant. It is only in stages that they perfected their mastery over the silver screen.
My good friend B might as well watch the movie and claim that that this blogger is rotting and there is nothing of interest, which is a perfectly sane opinion. It is akin to showing My Fair Lady to a chap who doesn't understand English or isn't familiar with general English culture. No matter how good the subtitles the gist of the movie is lost. The same case here although one is not claiming that this movie of the same caliber as the other one. There needs to be some way to relate to the movie's environment for it to be of any value. Either one needs to have a basic grasp of the language to at least begin comprehending the story or at least have a general idea about the prevailing "youth culture" over there neither of which B possesses so we can safely ignore his opinions.

B throws in the towel

B is dead, Long live B. My good reader will undoubtedly remember a certain character B from an earlier post. The latest news off the wires is that the man has thrown in the towel, bloggically speaking. Sense seems to have descended unto him and rooted firmly into his rotten bean. He has seen the error of his ways and has firmly decided not to rot about anything in his blog let alone anything about this blogger.

The case against B

"The absence of romance from my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest; but if it be judged useful by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it, I shall be content. In fine, I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time"
- The Peloponnesian War [Book I, 22] by Thucydides 431 B.C

I want to tell my good reader, if any, about a certain character henceforth we call as 'B'. B whatever his faults, of which there are many, is a decent man save for some uncouth characteristics. Recently this B launched a tirade of gigantic proportions against this writer by using as foul as language can be. However he is forgiven for one's heart is golden and doesn't harbor malice towards one's fellow men. The World, however, must know the case against 'B'. First a portrait of 'B'.

The well-read reader will undoubtedly mutter what-rot but thats a picture of an old monk who has long gone his way. As to that the well-read reader speaks in perfect truth. This is not 'B' but it is so like 'B' that the likeness is astonishing to a degree not heard of in the history of likenesses. But the similarities stop at that. While the man in the picture looks to be yearning for spiritual truth, "B", with the same face, should be read as yearning for gayls. The man in the picture was thin from a tough diet, "B" has layers being added steadily around his waist what with hogging sambar rice, curd rice and other concoctions. While the monk was steadfast and even though married the true nature of his relationship with his wife was believed to be beyond the grasp of ordinary minds, B shows no such responsibility as we shall see later.
B in his younger years was a bit of a thickhead. During the formative under-grad years he and this other thicko, we shall label him 'R', used to discuss stuff in the wings of the dormitory. This rotter R used to swing his arms in a batting action and explain j-omega stuff to B and B with some other unique shake of his arm used to argue/debate this j-omega stuff. It can be seen that these two rotters stooped to a lowly level and denied the other denizens some peace and quite by always being part of the landscape.
Forward a couple of years and we find B in the Land of the Plenty. Now we find him in the company of a thicko 'L'(nickname) and they used to discuss the merits of subcontinent food and taste. A foul array of rotters the discerning reader will see. But this is not the case against B. B when not rotting about food was actually one of those wierd individuals who actually pursued a doctorate degree and this is when his most foul momemts appear. B is sitting in his room attempting to wrestle some equalization stuff in signal processing. Memistopheles appears from the ground and Conscience descends form the ceiling.

Memistopheles : I say that white chick that was sitting next to you was pretty good.
B: Yeah she was wasn't she
Conscience: She was decent nothing major. The other subcontinent girls in the class was better
Memistopheles: You need to offer to do her homework maybe then she might decide to go outwith you for tea with you.
B: Yeah that would be good wouldn't it
Memistopheles: Of course and then one thing can lead to another and then maybe you can even take here out for dinner.
Conscience: I say we need to be getting on with equalization.
Memistopheles: Ah what equalization thats pretty simple stuff. We can call that chap X and just cop if from him. Wont take even 10 minutes.
B: (Smiles with dirty thoughts running in his head)
Conscience:(defeatedly) I say we ought not to do this now. Maybe later after we finish....

The state of B needn't be mentioned for by this time he is rummaging through all sorts of "colored" images in his head.

The next day he accosts the above mentioned chick in class and offers his "support" and she promptly tells the professor about it. What the professor did about it is difficult to fathom without knowing the facts but it does suffice to say the chap(B) suffered from a severe head injury(internal) from which it is said that one cannot possibly recover. Hence his gibberish and rot in his writings.

Coolant leak at rad

Nissens radiator. Replaced December 2003. Leaking already. Possibly because of using volvo-green which is supposed to eat away solder in radiator ???

Sankeertanas

Some Annamacharya Sankeertanas. Considering that the TTD is one of the richest temples in the world one would expect atleast CD quality audio but sounds like it was ripped off of a cassette. Pretty pathetic

The scoop on Jiffy Lube

http://mfile.akamai.com/12924/wmv/vod.ibsys.com/2006/0503/9152183.200k.asx

Fanaa(Hindi, 2006)

This is one movie that should be watched on the big screen. Absolutely no doubt about it. The photography is superb. I had read in a review somewhere that without Kajol the movie would have lost it appeal. I can see now why. We also see Rishi Kapoor of yester years who by now looks very much like Raj Kapoor(which Kapoor doesn't ? ). It may be argued that the quality of Bollywood movies is on the rise, which to an extent is true but I doubt the same can be said about their originality. I remember towards the end of the movie something coming back to me. It was about an old English movie starring Donald Sutherland. The parallels with this movie are numerous(in the second half only) leading me to think that maybe that movie was the inspiration for this one. There is one detail in the movie which surprised me pleasantly. It is about the satellite phone that the bad guys use. There is one shot of the handset and it caused me no less surprise that the one shown is authentic. That particular phone is used on the only successful satellite phone service that actually encompasses South Asia/MiddleEast/Europe... and there is no doubt that it is used by people in the remote regions of that part of the world but it is not allowed in India by the Government. Not like Bollywood to strive for consistency but there it is.

A friend's photo repository

http://aces.smugmug.com/

This is his friend's( Anush Krishnaswamy, IITM EE - 98 passout) photo rep

http://www.flickr.com/photos/krisphotography/

Volvo at an overnight pit stop

Whats the part number of this ?

Looking for the parts number for the broken glass piece. Car is a 92 940T. The guy manning the parts counter at local Volvo dealer couldn't find it.

The volvo at night

Resetting service light 01 V70

Got this when searching through http://forums.swedespeed.com The 3rd step was a bit different however
Turn ignition key to postition 1
Set trip to trip 1 and keep the trip button pressed. This will reset the trip miles. Keep the button pressed
Turn key to ingition position 2. Service Light starts blinking. Keep the trip button pressed. The service light blinking will go away.

Voila. the service light is reset.

HU-613 Hidden Menus

The first inkling I had about the hidden menus on the HU-613 was from http://www.v70xc.com/resources/audio_menus/hu613/. The sequence didn't strictly work in my 01 V70. Here's what I had to do. First set the unit to FM mode. The menus dont seem to work in any other mode. Power off the unit by pressing the power/volume button. Press the function button and keep it depressed. Then press the volume/power button and release it. The unit will come on. Keep the function button depressed for another 5 or so seconds. Then you get the hidden menu. Source button is used to navigate through the items in the menu and the I-20/Disc is used to set values for a particular item.

<< + Volume
|<< + Volume
>> + Volume --> Gives Country USA/Australia

The following work too.
ASC + Volume
Auto + Volume

The owners manual mentions some of these functions as AUM(Advanced User Mode) and says to press the volume button for an extended period of time to activate the menus. That didn't work for me however.

Installing an Ipod adapter in a V70

This is a very good link which gives a picture description of how to install an ipod adapter in v70 with stock head stereo unit. This way the iPod can be controlled via steering wheel controls.

http://www.geocities.com/scotjo/ipod/ipodinstall.html

And here is an absolute goldmine about a custom-made ipod adapter that leaves the OEM and other "professional" ipod adapters in the red.

http://forums.swedespeed.com/zerothread?cmd=print&id=32512

Brilliant site describing Volvo accessories

http://acctest.semcon.se/en-GB/

So Long

Parting with my good old 2000 Saab 9-3SE. It has become a tad small for our needs.

Estimating car depreciation

http://carprice.com/loandepr.html

Plug

A relative of mine(from wife.gov's side) recently opened a pub in Vizag, India. Its called 10 Downing Street and is a franchisee of the original one in England. Decent outfit. If you are ever there in Vizag you might want to drop in. It is opposite the Waltair Club.

The hunter 44760 thermostat at Lowes

On reading an earlier post of mine regarding replacing thermostat a friend requested my help and decided to replace his too. It took him nearly 6 months(Oct 2005-April 2006) to get the same thermostat at Lowes. The Lowes staff just asked him to check periodically on the stock for this particular model even after he offered to pay to per-order the thing. And when he did get it it was the lone one there. This thermostat has the same features as a Honeywell one which is $99 at Home Depot and is in stock all the time. I dont know what the geniuses at Hunter were thinking.

Worst cars of the millenium

A friend of mine recently forwared this link from carstalk to me. Absolutely hilarious.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/Worst-Cars/results1.html