2008 NRL GrandFinal

The wait was over for the NRL Grand Final. The finals was a repeat match of NRL2007 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and Melbourne Storm. Everyone predicted that Storm will win this time also, but I didn't. On top of that weather was playing its part, the whole week was sunny, but the forecast said its going to rain on sat/sun and it did rained on sat mornings and also on sunday morning. It didn't rain, but the sky was overcast and sun wasn't visible.

I was very much excited because, I have never been to a stadium to watch a match, be it a cricket, football or any other game. But I got a chance to watch 2008 NRL Grand final at ANZ Stadium, Sydney.

2008 was also the Centenary Year 1908-2008 for the Rugby League.

I took 13.30 train from StLeonards to Lidcombe and from Lidcombe another train and reached Sydney Olympic Park just over 3PM. After coming out of the station, I could see half of Sydney there on the way to ANZ Stadium. I didn't feel like going inside, so I loitered around the stadium. Grabbed a Pizza and coffee for lunch. I went insdie by 3.20PM. There was a NRL U20 match between Canberra Raiders and Brisbane Broncos. Broncos were leading till the half-time, but after the half-time raiders scored 3 tries and won the Toyota Cup.




Everyone was awaiting for the big match and crowd were slowly piling up and the stadium was filling up.



There was some presentation and a spectacular display of fire-works and a band was performing.



The NRL Cup was delivered by the Australian Navy Helicopter. It landed right in the middle of the stadium.




Exactly at 5pm both the teams Manly Sea Eagles and Melbourne Storm came out and the crowd went absolutely crazy and game began.



Sea Eagles dominated from the start and played attacking game and defended very well. Key players for Sea Eagles like Steve Matai, Matt Orford, Beaver, Lyon et al were attacking from the first minute and Sea Eagles were leading 8-0 during the half-time.

I was very hungry and went out and grabbed a Veg Pizza and a drink.

After the half-time, Manly again started their score and converting the tries to goals and at the end the score read 40-0. I heard over the radio when writing this blog that this is the biggest margin in the NRL Grand final.

The crowd was absolutely stunning and were supporting Manly and well-behaved. Beer was available within the stadium and everyone was happily gluping beers and supporting their teams.

I was a Manly supporter and supported it through-out the game. They were absolutely stunning and fabulous. I was feeling bad for Storm as their captain Smith was handed over suspension for grapple tackle during the semis.

It was a absolutely fantastic experience to watch a match that too a final of the match in the stadium.

The overall attendance for the final was 80388 and I was one of them.

BootCamps

I was desperate to reduce weight and get fit. Wasn't sure what to do and didn't want to join gym. I tried biking and jogging but I was lazy.

A co-worker in June 2008 forwarded me an email about Boot camps and the company that conducts it.

Boot camps run on 2 days week and in the mornings, lunch-break or in the evenings. I chose the morning timings. Sometimes I hated myself for selecting the morning time as I need to get up by 4AM and brave the winter and attend boot camps.

Boot camps consists of serious training focusing on all aspects and makes you to get fit. After 4 months, I have realized that I am getting fit and started slowly loosing weight.

My fitness level has improved and I feel the difference myself.

Waiting.........

..... for 5th Oct, 2008 for the NRL Grand final Manly Sea eagles Vs Melbourne Strom.

As I will be watching this match live at the ANZ Stadium, Sydney.

Thanks Jes for the ticket, much appreciated.

The Untouchables

This movie was the inspiration for Gautham Menon for Khaka Khaka and Gharsham.

"A Wednesday"

A co-worker of mine recommended this movie to me. Initially I was skeptical to watch a hindi movie. I stopped watching hindi movies. Last one if I remember was Boothnath (I watched it because of the little boy and not for Amitabh).

A Wednesday - is absolutely fantastic and excellent movie. The movie is well handled and well presented, keeping the viewers glued to their seats. I sort of guessed the story of the movie and it turned out to be the one I guessed.

Full credit goes to Director, Anupam Kher, Jimmy Shergil, Aamir Bashir & off-course Naseerudin Shah. The film also features Deepal Shaw(uff her voice.....I just hated it) as a TV anchor. I would not like to write a review of the story of the movie, but what one has to take from the movie.

The movie tells if a "Stupid Common Man" thinks, then he can do anything, but he has no time for that as he is busy with his family and to cater to their needs.

Film's background music is very soothing to ears.

Overall I will give a rating of 5 on the scale of 5.

Thanks to Neeraj Pandey for making an excellent movie and not any b-grade or commerical movie which Bollywood expects.

M5 computer glitch

Recently, a tunnel in one of the major toll road - M5(Motorway5) that links Central Sydney to the South West, Southern Highlands, Canberra and beyond was shutdown due to a computer glitch. This was the second time in 4 months this has happened.

I heard in the 2UE radio that why do you need a computer to operate the tunnel. I read in papers that the computer control the fresh-air inflow to the tunnel and monitors the temperature etc.

May be the tunnel operator didn't upgrade his h/w or didn't purchase license for the software.

My DVD's

Pretty late, I have a handful collection of DVD's mostly English movies, few Tamil movies.

I will post all the names in my next post.

My wife has a few good collections of old Hindi movies(lates 70's and 80's) and my son has a good collection of his own cartoon and children's movies(like Tin Tin, Thomas the Tank engine, Asterix etc)

Some of memorable Kamal's movie

I had written about Dasavatharam Kamal Hassan's latest movie. Some of his unforgettable movies till date

Raja Paarvai
Moondram Pirai
Michael Madhana Kamarajan
Anbe Sivam

Sippikkul Muthu(Swathi Muthyam), Salangai Oli (Sagara Sangamam) were dubbed from Telugu to Tamil and proved to be hits.

Hindi version of Swathi Muthyam starring Anil Kapoor didn't do well as its counter parts in Telugu and Tamil

Two of hindi movies worth mentioning of Kamal Hassan's are
Saagar, Ek Duuje Ke Liye (Remeber the lift song in the college where Kamal teaches hindi kavita to Rati)

Manmadha Leelai is another movie worth watching because it remainds me yesteryear Madras in most of the scenes.

Unfortunately Maro Charithra a hit movie in Telugu was not dubbed or made in Tamil.
Out of these Anbe Sivam tops my list.

Kamal's latest movie - Dasavathaaram

I watched Kamal Hassan's latest movie Dasavathaaram, pls don't ask me how. I am not going tell you the story.

Dasavathaaram means ten incarnations.

In ancient Hindu texts its mentioned that Lord Vishnu - savior of the people/world had taken these incarnations to save the world and its people. But he has taken only 9 and the 10th and final one is pending and its written in the ancient texts it will only happen at doomsday.

Kamal Hassan is well known for experimenting different things and often comes up with new ideas starting as Appu in Apoorva Sagodharargal till date. I am ardent fan of Rajinikanth, but never failed to appreciate Kamal's acting.

I still remember in my school days where I used to argue with my school friends whether Kamal or Rajini is a great actor. But today I can say both are different and you cannot compare them with each other.

Rajini's movies are crowd puller and reach out the common people. Whereas Kamal's movies has a different set of audiences altogether. But that's altogether a different topic to discuss.

In Dasavathaaram, Kamal has played 10 different roles, but he appears in 9 different roles at the same time.

Critics have rated this movie as average and expected more from Kamal, but I bet this movie has a different meaning and protray India altogether when you see the different roles played by him.

Try to see the inner meaning of the movie and appreciate the fact that Kamal has come up with this kind of story line.

If you want to read the story of Dasavathaaram before watching the film, search in Wikipedia.

Shortest Day in Winter

20-June-2008 was the shortest day here in Sydney.

Reason it was the longest night in the winter, Sun went down at 4.55PM on Friday and rose only at 7.03AM on Saturday.

First Apple Store in Southern Hemisphere

At 5pm on June 19, 2008, Apple opened its first Apple Store at George St, Sydney, Australia.

The first Apple Store in Southern Hemisphere.

From 18 June, 2008 from 7AM people started queuing in front of the store. First one was to arrive was from Melbourne and second was from Brisbane. 2 Apple enthusiasts came from SFO, California for the opening.

I could see the line extending 2 blocks.

I didn't visit the Apple store on the first day, but went there on the second day.

The store is of 3 levels and encapsulated in glass and even the stairs are made up thick heavy glass slabs.

Level 1 is filled with Mac Books, Level 2 iPods, Apple Touch and accessories. Level 3 is sort of Customer Service.

People were flocking the store and taking photos. Staff were trained to handle all sorts of customer and appeared to be friendly.

2 more Apple stores are planned in Australia, one in Sydney and the other in Melbourne.

With 3G iPhone set to officially launched on July 11, 2008, timing of opening Apple Store was perfect.

Not sure whether iPhone will be sold in the Apple Store.

Wait and watch

Undiscovered Tribe in Amazon

I recently read in Sydney Morning Herald that they have discovered a tribe in the forest of Amazon.

The tribe people were shown throwing spears at the helicopter from where they have sighted.

Amazing discovery.

Matrix Movie

If you have watched The Matrix triology and Neo had the power to break into the matrix and he was the choosen One. In the final and concluding part, when the credits are rolled out a vedic hymn is sung at the background and the literal translation of that is praising the Sun God.

The reason for mentioning this here is that, my close mate is in UK and complained to me that he can see the sun till 10PM at night and the sun rises around 4AM in the morning.

I told him that our ancestors (Indian astrologer (not today's astrologers)) had found the reason for this behavior and documented them in almanac.

During mid Jan, Sun moves little to the north and northern hemisphere has long days in summer (Europe, USA etc) and in mid July it moves down to south and days are longer in southern hemisphere(Australia, NZ, South America & South Africa). For this very reason DST is observed to utilize the extra sun light.

Scientifically, we all know that the Sun is stationery star and all 9 planets revolve around Sun incl earth. Its actually the earth that corrects its axis during Jan and mid July. This results in Sun moving farther and nearer.

This might be a self-balance act of the Earth to distribute sun light equally to all parts of the earth without distinguishing between north and south.

போஸ்டிங் இன் தமிழ் Tamil Blog

அமஜிங் பவர் ஒப் கூகிள் தட் இட் ஹெல்ப்ஸ் டு போஸ்ட் யூர் ப்லாக் இன் தமிழ்.
சாரி, கூகுளின் உதவியால் என்னோடய முதல் தமிழ் ப்லாக்.

நன்றி கூகிள்.

Movies that I watched during the long weekend - II

Kalloori, is the tamil word for College. This movie is set in interior part of Tamil Nadu with Madurai dialect (a form of Tamil spoken in & around Madurai).

It emphasis on friendship and each of the friend helps each other and how they project their friendship in need of the time forms the rest of the story with an interesting climax.

In my earlier posting, I had mentioned that 3 movies touched me very deeply. I will add this movie to that list.

1) Anbe Sivam
2) Ammuvagia Naan
3) Kaadhal
4) Kalloori.

I read the reviews in Rediff.com and some mentioned that this movie is remake of a Telugu movie - Happy Days.

Happy Days is a different story and Kalloori has a different story. One cannot compare these 2 movies. The story background may be similar as it is set in college which the youth will like.

Balaji Sakthivel director of both Kaadhal and Kalloori has a very unique way of story telling. In midst of the so called masala movies that Tollywood churns out, these 2 movies really stand apart.

These 2 movies are not suspense thriller and doesn't have a nail bitting finish and doesn't keep audience what will happen next.

The story moves pretty well and doesn't keeps the audience guessing and there are no unexpected twists or turns. Story moves very naturally and I recommend watching these 2 movies if you haven't.

Movies that I watched during the long weekend

Last week, I was catching up with my old co-worker via IM. He asked me whether I have seen the movie "Kadhal" (means Love in Tamil). I said no. He said its worth watching the movie. I didn't pay much attention to what he said. I had a long weekend (thanks to the Queen) and decided to read the review of the movie. This movie was released in 2004, but I didn't get a chance to see the movie in full length. Thanks to the DVD's, I was able to locate this movie in one of the Indian stores and bought it. I saw the movie and was dumbstruck by the movie. I was moved by the story and the way the movie progressed. I was so engrossed in it.

I had the similar effect when watching two other movies
a) Anbe Sivam
b) Ammuvagia Naan
This movie is the latest addition to my list.

The same director had directed another movie - Kalloori.

I will write about it in my next posting.

Changes

I had earlier mentioned that there were lot of changes in my life. I moved down under to southern hemisphere to the land of Oz.

Yes I changed jobs.

I started posting once again...... and some techie posts also, yes on my favorite subject Oracle Database.

Techie Posts-I Oracle Resource Manager

Recently, I had a chance to work extensively with an Oracle feature called Resource Manager. This feature was introduced in Oracle8i, but remains as a dormant feature till date due to the nature of its use.

I was asked by my customer to use this feature and demonstrate that you can snip sessions that exceeds a time limit and limit number of sessions via resource manager.

They had done an extensive research themselves and had several round of discussions with Oracle Development.

Initially I had challenges in implementing what customer asked, but ultimately was able to implement the same. The same is in production now on a pilot phase.

I will post more details on this if anyone is interested.

Changes in Life

Lot of things happened after my last post. The big change is that I moved to a different country for my new job, basically relocated and was successful in getting my self settled in the new country and was able to adjust myself to the new environment and to the culture.

Will write more about this new place by this weekend.

I always heard that change is vital and if you are not open to change or risk taking then will not grow.