Its the time of the year when the Nobel prizes are announced. The Nobel prizes remind me of another catagory of prizes, equally nobel in their intentions but not that well know - the Ig Nobel Prizes. These are awarded for research that "first makes people laugh, and then makes them think (and in the process celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative -- and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology)." This year's awardees are:
NUTRITION PRIZE. Massimiliano Zampini of the University of Trento, Italy and Charles Spence of Oxford University, UK, for electronically modifying the sound of a potato chip to make the person chewing the chip believe it to be crisper and fresher than it really is.
PEACE PRIZE. The Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (ECNH) and the citizens of Switzerland for adopting the legal principle that plants have dignity.
ARCHAEOLOGY PRIZE. Astolfo G. Mello Araujo and José Carlos Marcelino of Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, for measuring how the course of history, or at least the contents of an archaeological dig site, can be scrambled by the actions of a live armadillo.
BIOLOGY PRIZE. Marie-Christine Cadiergues, Christel Joubert, and Michel Franc of Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouse, France for discovering that the fleas that live on a dog can jump higher than the fleas that live on a cat.
MEDICINE PRIZE. Dan Ariely of Duke University (USA), Rebecca L. Waber of MIT (USA), Baba Shiv of Stanford University (USA), and Ziv Carmon of INSEAD (Singapore) for demonstrating that high-priced fake medicine is more effective than low-priced fake medicine.
COGNITIVE SCIENCE PRIZE. Toshiyuki Nakagaki of Hokkaido University, Japan, Hiroyasu Yamada of Nagoya, Japan, Ryo Kobayashi of Hiroshima University, Atsushi Tero of Presto JST, Akio Ishiguro of Tohoku University, and Ágotá Tóth of the University of Szeged, Hungary, for discovering that slime molds can solve puzzles.
ECONOMICS PRIZE. Geoffrey Miller, Joshua Tybur and Brent Jordan of the University of New Mexico, USA, for discovering that professional lap dancers earn higher tips when they are ovulating.
PHYSICS PRIZE. Dorian Raymer of the Ocean Observatories Initiative at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA, and Douglas Smith of the University of California, San Diego, USA, for proving mathematically that heaps of string or hair or almost anything else will inevitably tangle themselves up in knots.
CHEMISTRY PRIZE. Sharee A. Umpierre of the University of Puerto Rico, Joseph A. Hill of The Fertility Centers of New England (USA), Deborah J. Anderson of Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School (USA), for discovering that Coca-Cola is an effective spermicide, and to Chuang-Ye Hong of Taipei Medical University (Taiwan), C.C. Shieh, P. Wu, and B.N. Chiang (all of Taiwan) for discovering that it is not.
LITERATURE PRIZE. David Sims of Cass Business School. London, UK, for his lovingly written study "You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations."
Do check out the site: http://improbable.com/
WHo says science is boring? And wo says all scientific research has to be serious?
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Movie time!!! Reviews, reviews and reviews...
24 hours, 3 movies.. man am I Vella... (Its the DoMS slang for a guy without any work..)
Saw Love story 2050, The incredible Hulk and Jaane tu...
And here are the reviews..
Caution: Thiese reviews may contain spoilers...
Love Story 2050: Sorry to say this, but the movie is not worth half the hype... India's first Sci fi, some newspaper called it. And a very poor one. Actually the entire movie is not a sci fi... Its only half the movie where the director takes you to his version of Mumbai in 2050. In the first half, you are in Australia where the hero meets, falls in love and woos the heroine who conveniently dies before the interval. And our hero along with his uncle and friends go to Mumbai 2050 to get her back.. (Do see the movie to understand why he chooses this particular date. The director has wasted a lot of scenes to explain this... And also, why should only I Suffer)
So Mumbai 2050... The cars (flying) there look like Premier padminis which fly... The imagination is poor, the direction un-inspired and the story cliched... The hero is poor man's Hritik. It seems so obvious that he is trying to imitate Hritik...
On the brighter side, Priyanka Chopra looks awesome in the first half. There are some scenes in the second half which are gud (especially those involving the teddy bear).
The end of the movie makes u cry... especially as the movie ticket rates are increasing by the day.
Over the movie is worth a miss...
The incredible Hulk: I saw this movie, cos I had nothing else to do. (I asked the person to give me a ticket for the next movie, whichever it is). And I was not disappointed. In fact I found it entertaining in parts. May be it is because i saw love story 2050 just 14 hours back. Nyways, most of u would be knowing the story. Watch it like you would watch those numerous other Hollywood flicks with special effects. Don't want to waste more time on this movie. Its Ok.. watch it if U don't have any other options. At least u wont feel bad at the end of it...
Jaane tu...: Lovely, fantastic, A good feel-good movie after along time. Anyone who enjoyed Socha na tha, adored Kabhi haan, kabhi naa, would love this movie. A Rathore who does not fight, a girl who cant get enough of fighting... Everyone feels that they are made for each other. Everyone except these two. And the movie shows their journey till they understand and live happily ever after. Aamir Khan's nephew is good as the rathor, Genelia as Aditi is lovable. She makes u want to jump in joy with her, cry because her cat's dead and cry when she confesses to her fiancee that she loves Jai. And their friends, who are narrating this story to an air hostess, who does not believe in love.
The direction is gud, energetic - just wht a young love story deserves. The dialogues are just what you would hear college guys speaking. The scenes between aditi and her brother are awesome. Especially the one in his room (there is only one, so u would spot it) where he explains to her that Jai is the right guy for her. The story reminds you of Segal's Doctors and the two protagonists who spend 40 years as platonic but best of friends and end up married. But Jaane tu still manages to be different. Cos its very Filmi... :-) And thats the best part. It also has the brilliance of Dil Chahata Hai in some scenes (but only some). The colours are fresh. The actors are new and hence more convincing. The music is awesome. U just cant stop yourself humming kabhi Kabhi Aditi. and of course Pappu cant dance. :-) Will definitely wait for more of Tyrewala's movies.
Saw Love story 2050, The incredible Hulk and Jaane tu...
And here are the reviews..
Caution: Thiese reviews may contain spoilers...
Love Story 2050: Sorry to say this, but the movie is not worth half the hype... India's first Sci fi, some newspaper called it. And a very poor one. Actually the entire movie is not a sci fi... Its only half the movie where the director takes you to his version of Mumbai in 2050. In the first half, you are in Australia where the hero meets, falls in love and woos the heroine who conveniently dies before the interval. And our hero along with his uncle and friends go to Mumbai 2050 to get her back.. (Do see the movie to understand why he chooses this particular date. The director has wasted a lot of scenes to explain this... And also, why should only I Suffer)
So Mumbai 2050... The cars (flying) there look like Premier padminis which fly... The imagination is poor, the direction un-inspired and the story cliched... The hero is poor man's Hritik. It seems so obvious that he is trying to imitate Hritik...
On the brighter side, Priyanka Chopra looks awesome in the first half. There are some scenes in the second half which are gud (especially those involving the teddy bear).
The end of the movie makes u cry... especially as the movie ticket rates are increasing by the day.
Over the movie is worth a miss...
The incredible Hulk: I saw this movie, cos I had nothing else to do. (I asked the person to give me a ticket for the next movie, whichever it is). And I was not disappointed. In fact I found it entertaining in parts. May be it is because i saw love story 2050 just 14 hours back. Nyways, most of u would be knowing the story. Watch it like you would watch those numerous other Hollywood flicks with special effects. Don't want to waste more time on this movie. Its Ok.. watch it if U don't have any other options. At least u wont feel bad at the end of it...
Jaane tu...: Lovely, fantastic, A good feel-good movie after along time. Anyone who enjoyed Socha na tha, adored Kabhi haan, kabhi naa, would love this movie. A Rathore who does not fight, a girl who cant get enough of fighting... Everyone feels that they are made for each other. Everyone except these two. And the movie shows their journey till they understand and live happily ever after. Aamir Khan's nephew is good as the rathor, Genelia as Aditi is lovable. She makes u want to jump in joy with her, cry because her cat's dead and cry when she confesses to her fiancee that she loves Jai. And their friends, who are narrating this story to an air hostess, who does not believe in love.
The direction is gud, energetic - just wht a young love story deserves. The dialogues are just what you would hear college guys speaking. The scenes between aditi and her brother are awesome. Especially the one in his room (there is only one, so u would spot it) where he explains to her that Jai is the right guy for her. The story reminds you of Segal's Doctors and the two protagonists who spend 40 years as platonic but best of friends and end up married. But Jaane tu still manages to be different. Cos its very Filmi... :-) And thats the best part. It also has the brilliance of Dil Chahata Hai in some scenes (but only some). The colours are fresh. The actors are new and hence more convincing. The music is awesome. U just cant stop yourself humming kabhi Kabhi Aditi. and of course Pappu cant dance. :-) Will definitely wait for more of Tyrewala's movies.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
An MBA's Life....
Was reading about the origin of the phrase, "A dog's life". It seems the phrase came to be associated with a life of misery or miserable subserviency.
Dogs often weren’t allowed in the house, but were kept in kennels, fed scraps, worked hard, and often died young. So going to the dogs, dog tired, to die like a dog, dog’s dinner, dogsbody, dog eat dog, and a dog’s life all refer to a state of affairs best avoided. Specifically, a dog’s life is first recorded in the sixteenth century...
Now dont get me wrong. I am very fond of dogs. Till a few years back I too used to fight for equal rights for dogs, was a part of a very famous society which worked for ethical treatment towards them and was in the habit of feeding quiet a few street dogs on the roads near my home...
But this description is something evry similar to the life of those unfortunate few who have had the misfortue of passing the hundreds of entrance exams life CAT, XAT, JMet and so on and being through the torterous GD and PIs.
These unfortunate few have to go through 2 years of hardships where they are deprived of the basic amenities of food and sleep. And it is assumed that they will ahve a good life after that. And nothing can be more wronger (See this is what happens to MBAs when they have to write without the use of google, they can even get their grammer rite).
They promptly are given jobs and shown a good chewy bone (a fat pay package) to again deprive themselves of food, sleep and family.... They are also not allowed to go home, are kept in offices (kennels), fed scraps (if they have the time to eat), work hard, and often died young
due to heart attack....
Man what has life come too...
Dogs often weren’t allowed in the house, but were kept in kennels, fed scraps, worked hard, and often died young. So going to the dogs, dog tired, to die like a dog, dog’s dinner, dogsbody, dog eat dog, and a dog’s life all refer to a state of affairs best avoided. Specifically, a dog’s life is first recorded in the sixteenth century...
Now dont get me wrong. I am very fond of dogs. Till a few years back I too used to fight for equal rights for dogs, was a part of a very famous society which worked for ethical treatment towards them and was in the habit of feeding quiet a few street dogs on the roads near my home...
But this description is something evry similar to the life of those unfortunate few who have had the misfortue of passing the hundreds of entrance exams life CAT, XAT, JMet and so on and being through the torterous GD and PIs.
These unfortunate few have to go through 2 years of hardships where they are deprived of the basic amenities of food and sleep. And it is assumed that they will ahve a good life after that. And nothing can be more wronger (See this is what happens to MBAs when they have to write without the use of google, they can even get their grammer rite).
They promptly are given jobs and shown a good chewy bone (a fat pay package) to again deprive themselves of food, sleep and family.... They are also not allowed to go home, are kept in offices (kennels), fed scraps (if they have the time to eat), work hard, and often died young
due to heart attack....
Man what has life come too...
Purposeless Research
First year in MBA is done.... Thankfully. ME half an MBA now.
M writing my blog after god knows how many days...
The last entry was the successful completion of 0.25 of my MBA.
Read an interesting piece a few days back... By our Director Prof. Balaram.
He talks about Purposeless science in one of his editorials & I have Ctrl C + Ctrl V it here below
Must every laboratory experiment be the result of cold calculation and must we only celebrate the brutally efficient, professional successes of science? Is there no room for those who would like to pursue a hobbyist’s approach to science? In these commercial times it seems incongruous to suggest that doing experiments for fun is justifiable. After all, a hobby cannot be subsidized by public funds. But, maybe there still is a place for an old fashioned, amateur’s approach, within the precincts of academic institutions, where many young minds are still to decide whether or not to stay with science. Even cricket and tennis must be fun to play, in order to attract the young. The most hardened performers hardly give their best once the enjoyment is gone. So it is with science. We are unfortunately living in times when the pressures of delivering results ‘useful’ are beginning to overtake even the ‘most academic’ of our scientists. While we have generally failed to develop an efficient professional cadre of scientists in many important areas, we are in great danger of also eliminating the mildly irrational dreamers.
Though I am neither a scientist nor a researcher, as an aspiring Technology Manager and a one upon a time Engineer, this sure is worth pondering upon....
M writing my blog after god knows how many days...
The last entry was the successful completion of 0.25 of my MBA.
Read an interesting piece a few days back... By our Director Prof. Balaram.
He talks about Purposeless science in one of his editorials & I have Ctrl C + Ctrl V it here below
Must every laboratory experiment be the result of cold calculation and must we only celebrate the brutally efficient, professional successes of science? Is there no room for those who would like to pursue a hobbyist’s approach to science? In these commercial times it seems incongruous to suggest that doing experiments for fun is justifiable. After all, a hobby cannot be subsidized by public funds. But, maybe there still is a place for an old fashioned, amateur’s approach, within the precincts of academic institutions, where many young minds are still to decide whether or not to stay with science. Even cricket and tennis must be fun to play, in order to attract the young. The most hardened performers hardly give their best once the enjoyment is gone. So it is with science. We are unfortunately living in times when the pressures of delivering results ‘useful’ are beginning to overtake even the ‘most academic’ of our scientists. While we have generally failed to develop an efficient professional cadre of scientists in many important areas, we are in great danger of also eliminating the mildly irrational dreamers.
Though I am neither a scientist nor a researcher, as an aspiring Technology Manager and a one upon a time Engineer, this sure is worth pondering upon....
Monday, December 11, 2006
Dukh bhare din beete re Bhaiya....
Exams over... I am a one fourth MBA now...
Happy days are here again,
The skys above are clear again
Lets sing songs of cheer again...
:-)
Happy days are here again,
The skys above are clear again
Lets sing songs of cheer again...
:-)
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Bonsai dreams
Something is wrong somewhere with me… I have lost the Ability to dream big, the ability to think and most probably the ability to take on challenges. And I am finding hundred excuses for my failures. Finance yet nahi? Asu de… Will at least pass, marks gheun kay karayach ahhe?. MIS cha paper vaiit
Is it boredom? Dunno... Don’t even have the time to think about it. And even when I have, I don’t want to think about it. Or is it a lack of interest? Definately not! I enjoy the course, thoroughly. But somehow abhyaas hot nahiye. It is not ki me engineering madhe khup abhyaas karayacho. I royally wasted time there too. But at least I enjoyed it there. Ithe ratri zhopatan I don’t even try to think if I have done anything constructive through out the day, because I know I have not.
Darroz ithe department la yayacha, try to study… jamla tar theek, nahi tar kay tasa hi CGPA che vaat lagalich ahhe…
Friday, November 24, 2006
What is this life full of care
The beforementioned financial accounting presentation is scheduled for tomorrow. And we are back in the department working, and for a change now everyone is working and nobody is sleeping. Especially after today's financial management test where everyone was caught unawares. (I hope I atleast end up with marks in the higher half of single digits) Life has become amazingly pathetic. Every alternate day we have some or the other assignment / project / presentation / submission/ test (please, forgive me if I forgot something, I havent slept for god knows how many days...)
I wont even be able to explain our daily schedule... we ourselves dont know. We come to the department and work on whatever assignment / project..... we have to submit the next day....
The tea board and the mess are the only consistancies in life....
I wont even be able to explain our daily schedule... we ourselves dont know. We come to the department and work on whatever assignment / project..... we have to submit the next day....
The tea board and the mess are the only consistancies in life....
Monday, November 20, 2006
Longest days in my life.....
Date: 19 November and 20 November....
Had a Financial accounting presentation yesterday, 19. And as usual we were not prepared :-)
So we had no other option other than sleepwalking throughout the night to finish the assgnent and make the presentation. The past so many days here have been a black box, we go to the department in the morning and come back late at night... What we do in between even we dont know.
Anyways so yesterday the entire class was in the seminar hall slogging it out trying to figure out the balance sheets of some good and some unheard of companies. Of course this was accompanied by a few(?) trips to the tea board. ( and back to the department. Our travel route is generally Dept to tea board to hostel, we still have to figure out a route to our hostel which does not go thro the tea board.) So here we were 20 wanna be MBA slogging out (which we have been for the past so many day) in the seminar hall. In fact our seminar hal has become our dormatory I think I go back to my room only to change clothes and bathe... Vishnu slept on the couch outside the dorm, sorry seminar hall at 2 pm. That guy has an amazing ability to handle stress. He just sleeps... And we worked and worked and worked till 5 am (YES, AM... MORNING) and we were still unfinished with our assignment. But we decided to go back and sleep. so we woke up Vishnu. He opened his eyes, our converstaion was:
ME: Vishnu, 5 baj gaye. chal jaate hain
Vishnu: 5 baj gaye, shit...
And he wnt back to sleep. Sp bhargav and I promptly went back to pur rooms, tried to sleep and were back for our presentation at 0830. And we thought that things cant get worse than this. God knows how many days since we had more than 4 hours of sleep.........
And were we wrong
Fast forward to the second seminar, Sinu and Baneesh were presenting. I dont think anybody knows what they said, we were busy working on our own assignments. Suddenly Sinu says, My head is spinning, Baneesh will take over. Nivea go to her, shakes her and finds that Sinu is unconscious. The rest is panic. Nivea is looking around unable to comprehend. Baneesh moves ahead, tries to lift, I go ahead.. we both lift her, get her out on the couch (which Vishnu had used to sleep the previous night).. Baneesh meanwhile is shouting "no pulse, no pulse". The Prof immediatly got his car, we put her in it and went to the health centre. This female is still unconscious. At the health centre she was regaining and losing consciuosness every few seconds. The doc said that she is responding only to deep shock. So i tried to remind her of our Statistics clas, no shock can be deeper than this... But she did not respond. So we decided that the matter is indeed serious (did not respond to the shock of stats, god!!!) and transferred her to another hospital nearby...
Fast forward to the hospital. She is now admitted and here are 8 of us waiting outside. Prof. TVNR also stayed back with us. Amazing man he is. Hats off to him.
So as per the doc's suggestion she is admitted to the hospital and we students take turns to sit by her (we guys also used this opportunity to help ourselves to the hotels nearby, I guess I visited all of them) She had to undergo a battery of tests to check for normality! Dedu stayed back with her for the night. Meanwhile we checked out the quality of the food at a nearby chinese restaurant for dinner and a another local hotel at lunch, not to mention an ice cream parlour.:-)
So again today morning we were back at the hospital. Goldman Sachs was visiting our
campus for summer and finals and this female who was hospitalised wanted to attend the interview. So she kept crying about missing Goldman... Ok enough of the bad parts. She was discharged today eveing and is pretty all right now. Goldman sachs took 4 seniors out of 8 who had applied and 2 for summers. We had a seminar in the evening where the dept served us Sandwiches and tea after the seminar (really good!!!) Now she is back to her hostel, we are back to the department and Vishnu is back to the couch...
Had a Financial accounting presentation yesterday, 19. And as usual we were not prepared :-)
So we had no other option other than sleepwalking throughout the night to finish the assgnent and make the presentation. The past so many days here have been a black box, we go to the department in the morning and come back late at night... What we do in between even we dont know.
Anyways so yesterday the entire class was in the seminar hall slogging it out trying to figure out the balance sheets of some good and some unheard of companies. Of course this was accompanied by a few(?) trips to the tea board. ( and back to the department. Our travel route is generally Dept to tea board to hostel, we still have to figure out a route to our hostel which does not go thro the tea board.) So here we were 20 wanna be MBA slogging out (which we have been for the past so many day) in the seminar hall. In fact our seminar hal has become our dormatory I think I go back to my room only to change clothes and bathe... Vishnu slept on the couch outside the dorm, sorry seminar hall at 2 pm. That guy has an amazing ability to handle stress. He just sleeps... And we worked and worked and worked till 5 am (YES, AM... MORNING) and we were still unfinished with our assignment. But we decided to go back and sleep. so we woke up Vishnu. He opened his eyes, our converstaion was:
ME: Vishnu, 5 baj gaye. chal jaate hain
Vishnu: 5 baj gaye, shit...
And he wnt back to sleep. Sp bhargav and I promptly went back to pur rooms, tried to sleep and were back for our presentation at 0830. And we thought that things cant get worse than this. God knows how many days since we had more than 4 hours of sleep.........
And were we wrong
Fast forward to the second seminar, Sinu and Baneesh were presenting. I dont think anybody knows what they said, we were busy working on our own assignments. Suddenly Sinu says, My head is spinning, Baneesh will take over. Nivea go to her, shakes her and finds that Sinu is unconscious. The rest is panic. Nivea is looking around unable to comprehend. Baneesh moves ahead, tries to lift, I go ahead.. we both lift her, get her out on the couch (which Vishnu had used to sleep the previous night).. Baneesh meanwhile is shouting "no pulse, no pulse". The Prof immediatly got his car, we put her in it and went to the health centre. This female is still unconscious. At the health centre she was regaining and losing consciuosness every few seconds. The doc said that she is responding only to deep shock. So i tried to remind her of our Statistics clas, no shock can be deeper than this... But she did not respond. So we decided that the matter is indeed serious (did not respond to the shock of stats, god!!!) and transferred her to another hospital nearby...
Fast forward to the hospital. She is now admitted and here are 8 of us waiting outside. Prof. TVNR also stayed back with us. Amazing man he is. Hats off to him.
So as per the doc's suggestion she is admitted to the hospital and we students take turns to sit by her (we guys also used this opportunity to help ourselves to the hotels nearby, I guess I visited all of them) She had to undergo a battery of tests to check for normality! Dedu stayed back with her for the night. Meanwhile we checked out the quality of the food at a nearby chinese restaurant for dinner and a another local hotel at lunch, not to mention an ice cream parlour.:-)
So again today morning we were back at the hospital. Goldman Sachs was visiting our
campus for summer and finals and this female who was hospitalised wanted to attend the interview. So she kept crying about missing Goldman... Ok enough of the bad parts. She was discharged today eveing and is pretty all right now. Goldman sachs took 4 seniors out of 8 who had applied and 2 for summers. We had a seminar in the evening where the dept served us Sandwiches and tea after the seminar (really good!!!) Now she is back to her hostel, we are back to the department and Vishnu is back to the couch...
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Life @ IISc
Indian institute of Science, IIsc, Premier Insti in India... Dept of management studies, The oldest management school in the Country... And more than one montha fter the course started I am having serious doubts whether am worthy of this... Every person around me has better academic records than me, are more qualified to be better managers, better understanding... In short all that is neede to be an MBA and all that is lacking in me, is in them. The course per se is not stressful. The life here is fun but still...
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Last few days in pune
More than one month since I came to bangalore... I have actually begun to do my assignments on my own (My engineering friends will find it hard to believe... but miracles do happen). Attend all the lectures and actually stay awake through a major part of the night trying to make sense of what is taught in the lecture...
I saw a Ekankika yesterday at the Maharashtra Mandal at Bangalore. It was called "Vidhilikhit". This has been the maximum time that I have been totally away from Natak(not even as audience..) So u all can well imagine how excited I was about seeing the paly. The play talked about whether is the "Vidhilikhit" actually pre defined? A really enjoyable play (a lot of sci fi stuff though), excellent acting by the protagonist (He's my friend so no harm in praising him) and super technical support... However the sci fi nature of the play reduced its impact. But seeing a play in Bangalore after so many days... man was I excited..... More about the nataks later though....
I saw a Ekankika yesterday at the Maharashtra Mandal at Bangalore. It was called "Vidhilikhit". This has been the maximum time that I have been totally away from Natak(not even as audience..) So u all can well imagine how excited I was about seeing the paly. The play talked about whether is the "Vidhilikhit" actually pre defined? A really enjoyable play (a lot of sci fi stuff though), excellent acting by the protagonist (He's my friend so no harm in praising him) and super technical support... However the sci fi nature of the play reduced its impact. But seeing a play in Bangalore after so many days... man was I excited..... More about the nataks later though....
Purushottam
Purushottam karandak.. Elims over... Finals next week ... The BIGGEST inter collegiate one act play competition. AND ME IN BANGALORE.... Missing Purushottam a hellova lot...Pune is home to a huge number of comepetitions, however Purushottam still remains the most revered... Why? The answer cannot be written down.. It is what you experience while in the hall of Bharat Natya Mandir during, before and after the show.. The shouting, jeering and cheering.. the intense rivalry between teams.. and of course the extermely talented people performing thought provocing plays. for me the magic of purushottam would begin from even befor the play practice starts. selecting the script, casting the charaters (the lack of girls in our college to cast) and discussions over infinite cups of chai. And when the practice starts, again the fights with team mates, bunking lectures for practice and taking contributions from everyone for the play. The sweat that goes in behind staging the play, the god-only knows-how many hours of practice... all these and many more reasons why Purushottam is Purushottam.. May the best team win...
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Method of physical acting
Method of Physical Action (MPA) requires an understanding of the significance of physical action, or more specifically, in the performance of physical action. It is based on an idea that emotional life is a kind of two-way street; further, that the only thing an actor will ever have control of in his life as regards himself is his body, nothing more. There is never a direct line to emotions in performance, only to the body. Emotions may be remembered and brought up via emotional memory, but Stanislavski generally considered this to be a rehearsal tool or technique of research, at best. There is, in the end, only the body.Therefore the actor and the director must work hard using the body, that is, the body's performance of physical action, as the primary material of creation. That is the subject of rehearsal, how to come to physical actions that affect the actor and bring the scene to life at the same time. So in one pass both emotional and aesthetic considerations are dealt with, and a way of working is given while the enormity (indeed, infinity) of options, the entire landscape of possibilities of performance, are sensed.The MPA is such a simple idea it comes very close to the default, to a kind of techniqueless technique. Figure out what to do: where is the technique in that? Two points must be made: first, that thorough physical training is always required, and second, an understanding of what a truly good physical action is, is also required. Both can take years of experience and reflection. The art of performance cannot be learned from literature but instead from action: from performance, and observation. Salaam Stanislavaski..................
Thursday, April 13, 2006
"Caste away" by reservations
India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters.
But my country feels that my other caste brothers and sisters are better than me. That is why it does not hesitate to give me step – son treatment….
I shall always strive to be worthy of my country.
But may be the country believes I am unworthy of it.
To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion.
And I firmly believe that prosperity will come by treating every one equal.
I beg the people in higher echelons for my country to forgive me for being born in the caste that I have. I understand that education is not amongst my birth rights and I shall not strive to achieve the same.
(Progress comes not by giving some special rights and concessions but by giving everyone an Equal playing ground…though the term equal can be misinterpreted as it is being done now…)
But my country feels that my other caste brothers and sisters are better than me. That is why it does not hesitate to give me step – son treatment….
I shall always strive to be worthy of my country.
But may be the country believes I am unworthy of it.
To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion.
And I firmly believe that prosperity will come by treating every one equal.
I beg the people in higher echelons for my country to forgive me for being born in the caste that I have. I understand that education is not amongst my birth rights and I shall not strive to achieve the same.
(Progress comes not by giving some special rights and concessions but by giving everyone an Equal playing ground…though the term equal can be misinterpreted as it is being done now…)
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
@ Reacting
We were having a discussion yesterday… A few friends who had nothing better to do.. And as we neither drink/ smoke/ etc…(sad existence). we have nothing better to do in life than talk. So the topic as usual was theatre.( Now a days this is the only topic I talk about…). And the question we were asking each other was what is acting? Do we need to “act” on Stage? I believe (and I know nobody cares what I believe, but still this is my blog so I can write), I believe actors don’t act. They just react. You cant expect people to say their lines verbatim and expect the audience to enjoy it. Stanislavski says the actor’s responsibility towards the audience is to be believed… to convey the author’s message in a believable manner, using the available resources, his body, his voice, the props on stage, the lights… everything that he can lay his hands on, on the stage. Words don’t just flow out… The dialogues are not to be said, there has to be the process of feeling before speaking. The characters in “The rest is silence” are not everyday people. They have had some different experiences which may be the actors who will be acting in the play cannot correlate to. Acting starts with an IF. An actor asks 'If I were there, what would I be thinking?' and then later 'If I were my character, what would I be thinking?'. This brings realism on stage. Stanislavski did not require actors to be the part, as is a popular misconception, but he did demand that they lived the part with the magic if. The actor must believe in the given circumstances and appreciate it as the truth. They must accept the play's narrative, its facts, events, epoch, time and setting, conditions of life, interpretation by the actor and director, the costumes, sound, lights etc..
Anyways more on this the next time… And there are defiantly better people to speak about this than me………
Anyways more on this the next time… And there are defiantly better people to speak about this than me………
Thursday, March 09, 2006
The rest is silence
The rest is silence: Hamlet's last words.
And the last words of Riya... Love this play (inspite of the previous flop performance
!!!!!!). This has been jinxed since I finished writing it.......... Changed the cast now.
Started practising again with a new cast. Hopefully will be able to reach out to the people better this time.
Practicing for two hours presently daily. Working on the interpretation of the actors and voice modulations. Hopeful of performing on 29 April.
And the last words of Riya... Love this play (inspite of the previous flop performance
!!!!!!). This has been jinxed since I finished writing it.......... Changed the cast now.
Started practising again with a new cast. Hopefully will be able to reach out to the people better this time.
Practicing for two hours presently daily. Working on the interpretation of the actors and voice modulations. Hopeful of performing on 29 April.
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