Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ergo June 29
Ergo June 29
11
TERMINATOR: SALVATION
Leaves little to salvage
Encouraging reading
among children will result
in their ability to learn
better. It’s this vision that is
taking this Ashoka Fellow
and founder of
Hippocampus Reading
Foundation to the rural
and semi-urban areas.
Umesh Malhotra on his
pioneering efforts.
» PAGE 05
» PAGE 03
02 NAMMA CHENNAI ERGO Monday, June 29, 2009
Take me home
Graceful Sparky has a fondness for
human company, games with a ribbon
and posing for the camera. To adopt
her, call Ananya Ashok at 9952040339.
Thumbs Up
Swine flue scare
A senior officer with the Chennai
Corporation was all set to go for a training
programme to Korea but cancelled his trip.
Blitz-1 team from Kumararani Meena Muthiah College
The reason – swine flu scare. Apparently,
the officer and his team were warned by
comes up trumps at the Ultimate Frisbee’s Agni Nakshatra
some health officers days before they were
scheduled to board the plane to the
competitions for first-timers
republic.
Musical chairs
Two senior cops who were previously in the
city and now posted in other districts due
to punishment transfers are now on a quest
to get back to the city. Reliable sources
reveal that both the khakis are gunning for
one position and therefore the fight for the
seat has intensified. The triumphant one is
likely to be known in a month’s time.
DEEPA VENKATRAMAN tising for a month now. The win- Each time Whizbees took a point,
ners of the tournament ‘Blitz-1’ the Stall-7 (freshers) caught up
Are you an
ORKUT
HERO? While it’s nice to get in touch with
old school buddies, two Orkutians
have started a blog to recognise
people who have started online
communities to help others
A
re you on Orkut? Are you formative in the form of Orkut
unique? Have you created a communities on different subjects,”
community for the benefit of adds Zazo.
someone else? If your answer “But how will others come to Tarannum Zazo, founder Orkut Heroes
is a loud YES, you might be the next know about them?” The question
Orkut Hero. plagued Zazo and made him open
It’s not an award that Orkut hon- two communities on Orkut – ‘Or- munities with help you. ifies with the friends in his/her friend
ours you with; it’s two individuals’ kut’s Hall of Fame’ and ‘Rated Zazo is not alone in this whole list. “We see the types of communities
effort to encourage your efforts. And Wow!’ process. His sister Tarannum (23), he/she has joined and his/her partici-
to help those in search of people But membership to these com- quit her job at IBM Daksh to join pation by sending scraps, messages and
with certain talents. munities is on invitation-only basis. her brother’s initiatives. “I was very community activities. After a thorough
orkutheroes.com is a blog started “Generally people gaze through inspired by my brother’s initiative scanning we try to approach that person
by Zaheer Abbas, which contains communities and join them out of and decided to extend my full sup- either by scrap or by email if possible.”
write-ups about inspirational their own interest, but these two port to take it forward,” says Tara After conducting more than 50 inter-
people. communities are dedicated to some proudly. views and the going through responses
Media entrepreneur Zaheer Ab- outstanding personalities for their And there started their idea of ex- he got from his readers he is now into
bas (27), better known as Zazo, a activities, profession and achieve- panding it outside Orkut. Zazo upgrading his website.
native of Rajasthan, joined Orkut ments, which can be a lesson in mo- thought the hard work of Orkut “Though I have won many notable
just to increase his network of tivation, inspiration and knowledge members should be appreciated awards for music I was more recognised
friends and keep in touch with old to anyone. And we invite them,” more. among my online friends as a hero after
buddies. But as he began to visit says Zazo. In case you are in search He started his blog in the year I won the Orkut Heroes award,” says Sa-
other communities, it opened his of such people, a visit to these com- 2008 – orkutheroes.com – and that’s meep Kulkarni, a sitarist, one of the he-
eyes to people’s contributions to- how the concept of Orkut Heroes roes of Zazo’s blog. Orkutheroes.com
wards making of groups and com- came into being. has become a platform for many online
munities. This blog contains profiles of peo- communities to take it further from
Zazo felt the media has many ple who have achieved in different mere online work to real meetings and
times projected Orkut as a culprit fields. “We select people from their groundwork.
behind many nefarious activities. active, useful and helpful contribu- If you as an individual or as a commu-
“After going through certain com- tion to any subject of interest like nity have done something motivating,
munities I found that not everyone academics, social work, etc.” Due to you can contact Zazo at zazo@orkuthe-
is wasting their time on Orkut. complaints about fake IDs, he clar- roes.com ■
04 KALEIDOSCOPE ERGO Monday, June 29, 2009
Mini Quiz
1: How much tax does one need to pay when
the taxable income level is between Rs. 1.50 –
3.00 lakh? (For all except senior citizens)
a) NIL
b) 20% of income exceeding Rs.3 lakh
c) 10% of total income exceeding Rs.1.50
Keep your
eyes open
lakh
d) 5% of total income exceeding Rs.1.50 lakh
2: PAN Stands for?
a) Payable Account Number
b) Permanent Account Number
c) Permanent Access Number
d) Preferred Access Number
Send your answers to finergo@goergo.in or SMS
your answers to 92813 98889. For example if you
choose A as the answer to question 1 and B as His first book ‘Stocks to Riches: Insights into Investor
the answer to question 2 type it as 1A2B and
send it. Winner will be chosen by lucky draw Behaviour’ is into its sixth reprint, two years after its release.
from all correct answers.
Answers for last week’s quiz
UTI Bank
With ‘Value Investing and Behavioural Finance’, his latest release,
New Fund Offer
Parag Parikh hopes to tell a large audience that the financial
market is a safe place for investors. The Founder-Chairman of
News you can use Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services answers basic
Depositors to become shareholders of queries for first-time investors:
Saraswat Bank
India’s largest urban co-operative bank Sa-
raswat Co-operative Bank is on its way to a) You must not make professionals and anyone dealing
make 50,000 of its depositors into sharehol- profit in your first invest- with money.
ders in the company. Depositors who have ment. Be ready for a loss Value Investing and Behavioural
been the bank’s oldest customers would be and thank God if you Finance is published by Tata McGraw
made shareholders in the company. It has re- made some loss. It is only Hill.
ceived 70 proposals from cooperative banks then that you will be cau-
for mergers, of which two-three are under tious while investing.
consideration. The bank had acquired South b) Don’t enter the mar-
ket with the aim of mak-
Indian Co-operative Bank and Kolhapur Ma-
ratha Co-operative Bank in 2008-09. ing money. Let it be a
process of making money.
Musings
c) Investing in stocks My first investment: I was
Future Generali eyeing sales via malls around 22 years old when I
Future Generali India Life Insurance Com- means buying part of a
business. Therefore, the tried my hand at the stock
pany Ltd will focus on selling insurance prod-
ucts through malls of Future group.While they longer the period, the market. I bought stocks of
are open to partnering with banks, their in- greater the gain. Be pa- Sehgal Paper (it does not
house network of 192 malls across the country tient. exist anymore), which was
d) Investment opportu-
will take more critical roles as alternative dis- available at Rs. 6 to Rs. 7
tribution channels. nities do not come every-
day, so keep you eyes those days. My first
The company, in the second year of its oper- investment was the greatest
ation, has no bancassurance portfolio, as most wide open. Do not blindly
banks are already in tie-ups with other insur- LIFFY THOMAS listen to what everybody has to say. lesson I learnt about the
ance companies. IRDA currently allows a bank liffythomas@goergo.in Make your own wise decisions while market. I lost Rs. 25 to Rs.
to sell policies of only one life insurance and investing in the market. 30,000 in the market, for
one general insurance company. Which sectors to invest in which my father went wild.
When one should invest
The government is talking big Once you start earning and have a
Lesson learnt: Never put
TATA Motors-Bank of India tie-up all your eggs in one basket
Bank of India has entered into an under- about infrastructural growth, but for disciplined life, be prepared to put
me infrastructure is a big no. The your money in the market. and always keep your eyes
standing with Tata Motors to ensure consum-
er finance for Fiat cars, which are available sector holds no value. Real estate al- open.
through the Tata-Fiat dealer network. Those so holds no good. Some technology Why one should read your book I hold shares of: I trade
willing to buy Linea, Palio and Grande Punto stocks, multinational pharma sec- If you are interested in the stock with 15 to 20 stocks at any
can get special interest rates for loans up to Rs. tors and credit ratings are worth giv- market and wish to understand the given time. ICRA, CRISIL,
10 lakh at 9.75 per cent to 10.25 per cent. ing a shot. follies an investor makes, my book is
a must-read. It advices on how to Mphasis BFL, Oracel, Sonata,
Bank of India offers car loans up to 90 per Bharat Electronics and
cent of invoice, for loans up to Rs 10 lakh for Short-term or long-term stocks spot investment opportunities and
A value investor will never go for pitfalls in commodity stocks, growth Container Corporation are
tenure ranging up to 6 years. This facility will
be available at all metro, urban and semi-ur- short-term stocks. stocks, PSUs, IPOs, sectors and index some of them. I never
ban branches of Bank of India. stocks. It is aimed at stockbrokers, change my portfolio.
Advice to first-time investors bankers, students of finance, finance
Monday, June 29, 2009
05
While most
associate
Hippocampus We consider
with its ourselves an
learning and organisation that
activity conceives, pilots
centres, it is and shares ideas
also engaged
in pioneering
work in semi-
urban and
rural areas to
promote
reading habits
in children
Growing by reading
LIFFY THOMAS work predominantly on dona- ban government school with 300 and video games. explains Malhotra. “They are
liffythomas@goergo.in tions from people and institu- children it costs around Rs. “In fact, working with rural In- women from self-help groups,
tions. 30,000 and in a village it is be- dia is a lot easier than urban who invest Rs. 5,000 to run the
A
B.Tech in Metallurgy from “We consider ourselves an or- tween Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 5,000.” slums,” he says. learning centres all by
IIT-Madras, a nine-year ganisation that conceives, pilots Malhotra believes that “chil- themselves.”
stint with Infosys, a three- and shares ideas. We today run dren want to read and to inspire Employability Typically, these librarians are
year entrepreneurial spell over six libraries in Bangalore. them to read more, they must ‘Grow by Reading’, an activity- those with a Class XII qualifica-
with Bangalore Labs and now six Our efforts to take reading to ru- enjoy it”. Some of his challenges based programme of the HRF tion, who are trained and em-
eventful years with Hippocam- ral segments have us reach from are to involve parents in all seg- that enables children to assess ployed to take up the role of a
pus. the slums of Kolkata to Cambo- ments of society as they don’t their own reading levels and im- librarian.
Umesh Malhotra, founder of dia and we are working in village read much; confronting parents prove reading skills, is showing
Hippocampus, is a man on the schools from Hassan to Tiruvan- who are very academically-fo- the path in other states, too. Women power
move, quite literally. The Banga- namalai,” Malhotra briefs about cussed and countering many “We have five women who Interestingly, the Ashoka Fel-
lore-based firm is into reviving their reach. other modern distractions chil- have accepted to take up fran- low 2008 has an all-women team
interest in reading in children, dren have, including television chises in Chitradurga district,” supporting the different func-
which it achieves through Start of a journey tions of Hippocampus.
unique programmes crafted for Hippocampus Reading Foun- “I am actually the only man
different socioeconomic strata dation (HRF), its social unit, besides the admin manager. The
of society. works with disadvantaged com- women do everything from cus-
While in cities, mainly Banga- munities to establish ‘Active Li- tomer management, program
lore and Chennai, Hippocampus braries’ in government schools development, buying of books,
is famous among children as a and community centres or by helping schools and all that. My
playing, meeting and learning engaging women as franchisees job is more to ensure that they
centre. of the learning centres. don’t have too much fun… I
In semi-urban and rural pock- In villages and slums it part- spoil their party.”
ets of India it is winning a silent ners with NGOs to start a learn- So, what’s next on the cards?
revolution by promoting reading ing centre on a collaborative “Life is a journey for me. I have
through various friendly initia- effort. “So far around 75,000 been lucky to do various things. I
tives for children. children have benefited through don’t know if this is the final
In cities, it mooted the idea of 150 libraries present in the two stop, but work has to excite me.”
starting for-profit libraries, states of Tamil Nadu and Karna- To volunteer visit
through which it generates mon- taka,” says Malhotra. “A commu- www.readforchange.in ■
ey, whereas in villages it initia- nity library in a city costs Inspiring a generation: Umesh Malhotra. (This column celebrates the spirit
tives are completely social and between Rs. 7 and 10 lakh, in ur- FILE PHOTO: G.R.N. SOMASHEKAR of entrepreneurship)
06 VILLAGE ERGO Monday, June 29, 2009
Cop chase
Five French tourists got a harrowing start to their New York visit
when they found themselves embroiled in a wild police chase.
PHOTO: AFP
M
en have the same Wood. nine, classy, well-groomed, or how attractive many men in men to obtain or maintain
taste when it comes During the study, over 4,000 upbeat the people looked. the study were. certain physical characteris-
to telling who they participants, between the age Revealing those factors “As far as we know, this is tics. Women who are trying to
find hot, while wom- group of 18 to more than 70, helped the researchers figure the first study to investigate impress men are likely to be
en fail to agree with each oth- rated photographs of men and out what common character- whether there are differences found much more attractive if
er, suggests a study. women (ages 18-25) for at- istics appealed most to wom- in the level of consensus male they meet certain physical
Led by Wake Forest Univer- tractiveness on a 10-point en and men. and female raters have in their standards, and much less if
sity psychologist Dustin scale ranging from “not at all” It was found that men’s attractiveness judgments. they don’t. Although men are
Wood, the study has revealed to “very”. judgments of women’s attrac- These differences have impli- rated as more attractive by
that there is much more con- In exchange for their partic- tiveness were based primarily cations for the different expe- women when they meet these
sensus among men about ipation, the raters were told around physical features, and riences and strategies that physical appearance stan-
who they think is attractive, what characteristics they that they rated highly those could be expected for men dards too, their overall judged
when compared with women. found attractive compared who looked thin and seduc- and women in the dating mar- attractiveness isn’t as tightly
“Men agree a lot more with the average person. tive. ketplace,” said Wood. linked to their physical
about who they find attractive Before the participants Most of the men in the Wood said that the study re- features.”
and unattractive than women judged the photographs for study also rated photographs sults could have implications Older participants were
agree about who they find at- attractiveness, the researchers of women who looked confi- for eating disorders and how more likely to find people at-
tractive and unattractive. This rated the images for how se- dent as more attractive. expectations regarding attrac- tractive if they were smiling.
study shows we can quantify ductive, confident, thin, sen- As a group, the women rat- tiveness affect behaviour. The study has appeared in
the extent to which men agree sitive, stylish, curvaceous ing men showed some prefer- He said: “The study helps the Journal of Personality and
about which women are at- (women), muscular (men), ence for thin, muscular explain why women experi- Social Psychology. ■
tractive and vice versa,” said traditional, masculine/femi- subjects, but disagreed on ence stronger norms than ANI
08 SPORT ERGO Monday, June 29, 2009
I
f the joy and emotion that lit up month-old nephew was there. Wimbledon quarter-finalist in 1973 Yet Qureshi, ranked 85th in dou-
one of Wimbledon’s outside Though by the time it was finish- and 1981 and who also featured in bles, enjoys his lifestyle and the
courts late on Friday was stored ing he was sleeping,” he grinned. the James Bond film Octopussy, companionship among the less
in a battery, it would probably British youngsters, with barely was courtside for the encounter talked-about players. “The funny
have had enough power to run the any of their compatriots left to and despite wearing a dark suit the thing is I know both of them so
much-talked about Centre Court cheer, were so roused by the heat was not the only thing get- well,” he said of their second
roof. Courtesy of another epic five- match that at the end they were ting to him. “He was pretty close to round opponents Philipp Marx of
set encounter, Indo-Pak duo Pra- scrambling for autographs and having a heart attack,” his son Germany and Rameez Junaid of
kash Amritraj and Aisam-ul-Haq yelling; “You’re our favourite joked, making Qureshi burst out Australia. “Two or three weeks
Qureshi set up a third round tie players now!’’ They weren’t the laughing. “He was getting a little ago I was playing in Germany, and
against fourth seeds Mahesh Bhu- only ones caught up in the frenzy. tight. He had one five-setter two we hung out in the evenings all the
pathi of India and Mark Knowles of days ago and another one today.” time,” Qureshi said. “They also
the Bahamas, to be played on Forgetful Amritraj Vijay was just thankful his boy cheered for us during our qualify-
Court 14 on Monday. So focused was the 25-year-old came out on top. “Stressful game ing matches and they were cheer-
Cue scenes of delirium among Amritraj at the conclusion that he to watch, but a wonderful end- ing for us on the first day. That’s
the spectators on the outside court forgot what happened at the end ing,” said the 55-year-old TV com- the beauty about this sport.”
as drinks went flying and strangers of the match. “On all six match mentator for an Asian network. Amritraj and Qureshi are also fa-
hugged. “Nobody cared about points they put in a good first miliar with Monday’s opponent
who was Pakistani and who was serve,” he said, only to be correct- Worlds apart Bhupathi, and will need to be at
Indian,” Qureshi, Pakistan’s lead- ed by Qureshi. “No the last one Though the likes of Court 11 are their best to derail the 11-times
ing player said. “They were all just was a second serve. You hit a fore- a mere stone’s throw from the grand slam doubles and mixed
supporting one team. It felt so hand down the line,” the 29-year- showpiece Centre and number one doubles champion. “He’s a good
good. This is the first time there old said, playfully punching his courts, those that get drawn on player but we’ve played with each
were so many people from Pakis- partner’s arm. them are worlds apart from the other so much. I think we have a
tan watching me live. Even my 18- Amritraj’s father Vijay, twice a top players. The Indo-Pak duo had really good shot,” Amritraj said,
to get through two qualifying backed up by Qureshi. “We almost
matches and after overcoming have nothing to lose. We can relax
16th seeds Ross Hutchins and Ste- and they’ll have all the pressure,”
phen Huss in round one, are now the Pakistani added. ■
the only qualifiers left in the draw. Reuters
India’s Prakash
Amritraj (left)
and Pakistan’s
Aisam Ul Haq
Qureshi discuss
strategies during
their doubles
match in
Wimbledon 2009
at the All
England Club.
PHOTO: AFP
‘‘
I’m not proud of the times that I’ve drunk too much and been rude to someone
or broken team rules. Now I’m out of that environment, that won’t happen
anymore for those people in that team and for me.
Andrew Symonds
E AFC’s mandatory
ven Sir Alex (Ferguson) will need a licence if he has to be registered as Head Coach. Even Sir Alex (Ferguson)
coach Mohun Bagan. If the Asian Football Confeder- needs to have the coaching licence if he takes charge of
ation (AFC) has its way, all I-League coaches in the
country will need to have a minimum ‘A’ licence to ‘A’ licence policy Mohun Bagan,” Kim says.
The hapless Indian coaches are now trying to find ways
take charge of their teams. Naturally, the diktat has sent
India’s soccer coaches in a tizzy. all set to hit to hold on to their high-paying jobs. Chirag United coach
Subrata Bhattacharya, who had earlier coached Mohun
A few of India’s multiple national league-winning coach-
es are likely to lose their jobs if the rules are implemented Indian coaches Bagan to national league glory, says: “I have an AFC ‘C’
licence and for the last couple of years I have been con-
this year. “The AFC maintains that these coaches do not fit
the AFC Champions League criteria. We have to take a hard templating doing a combined ‘A’ and ‘B’ licence course.
But I didn’t know who to approach and where these
decision whether to allow these coaches to function in the courses are conducted. The AIFF should have been re-
league,” All-India Football Federation secretary Alberto Co- sponsible enough to furnish us with the necessary in-
laco says. formation. For their lackadaisical approach we are now
The federation had earlier approached going to lose our jobs.”
both the FIFA and AFC for a rapproche- He now plans to get his degrees in order before the next
ment, considering the vast coaching edition of the I-League starts a few months later.
experience of the persons con- Current Bagan coach Karim Bencherifa, meanwhile, is
cerned, but the ice didn’t melt. expected to complete his ‘A’ licence diploma while vaca-
Taking a strong stand on the is- tioning in Singapore. The other Kolkata side, East Bengal,
sue, AFC Champions League plans to appoint ‘A’ licence-holder Mridul Banerjee as
Project Department’s commu- their coach, with present coach Subhash Bhowmick tak-
nication head Steve Kim says: ing over as technical director. “I don’t expect myself to go
“We understand the situation. in for some diploma after tasting success at every level as
However, by 2012 all coaches a coach,” Bhowmick says. “Earlier I was interested but
should have ‘A’ licence at least. the federation or the AFC always kept us out of the loop.
In addition, from 2013 only You cannot suddenly wake up and try to be too strict.”
coaches with ‘S’ licence will be The inclusion of foreign coaches in the list – David
acceptable. There will be no Booth, Zoran Djordjevic and Bencherifa – upsets the AIFF
exceptions.” more. All three have handled several continental bigwigs
Although the AFC has made before taking a plunge into Indian football, but the AFC
the coaches’ licensing mandatory has refused to go by reputations alone. Mahindra Unit-
for all participating teams in its ed’s Booth, the former Vietnam and Brunei national
premier club competition – AFC coach, must take a UEFA ‘A’ licence course to be eligible
Champions League – many coaches since the FA Advanced Licence that he had has already
in the richer European version of the expired. The Goan sides are better off with most of their
Champions League do not have the coaches having the necessary diploma.
necessary degree. Many famous Eu- National skipper Baichung Bhutia has, however, come
ropean club managers fall in this out in support of the men under fire. “It is important to
category. But the have a licence but degrees alone don’t make a good
AFC is coach,” Bhutia says. “Coaches must be given one or two
years to equip themselves. The federation must support
them in this endeavour.”
The AFC too says it’s ready to come to their rescue.
“AFC provides an opportunity to coaches to get a licence
through Vision Asia, AFC’s elite education pro-
gramme and satellite programme (region ba-
sis). The concerned coaches can e-mail us
inquiring about the details of the
programme and enrol themselves
online,” Kim says. “We will give
time for head coaches to get
‘S’ license by 2012. But from
2013, there would be no
exception.” ■
From Left: David Booth, Subhash Bhowmick, Subrata Bhattacharya and Shabbir Ali. PHOTOS: THE HINDU
10 FLICK ERGO Monday, June 29, 2009
L
ike Elvis before him, Michael Jackson is topping
the charts in death as in life.
And the King of Pop is rivaling the King of Rock
’n’ Roll in another category as well – posthumous
sales of memorabilia.
More than 15,500 Michael Jackson-related items
were being offered for sale on Saturday at online auc-
tion house eBay.com, two days after the sudden death
of the singer in Los Angeles at the age of 50. They
range from Web domain names – michaeljacksonme-
morial.com, for example – at hopeful prices of one mil-
lion dollars or more to copies of US newspapers
featuring front-page news of his death for as little as 99
cents.
eBay’s home page displays a special ‘Remembering
the King of Pop’ category offering ‘Memorabilia, Music,
Autographs, Records’.
The collectibles for direct sale or auction include Mi-
chael Jackson posters, dolls, ticket stubs, concert pro-
grammes, newspapers, magazines, tote bags, pins,
badges, stickers, T-shirts and other clothing.
And, of course, albums, hundreds and hundreds of al-
bums. One of the more unusual items listed on eBay is a
white glove doubling as an invitation to a ‘Michael Jack-
son party’. It can be had for 50,000 dollars with the money
purportedly going to support an orphanage in Kyrgyzstan.
A ‘rare and original’ black felt fedora said to have been
autographed by Michael Jackson himself has attracted 14
bids, the highest 9,899 dollars.
Dozens of replica red leather jackets like the ones Jackson
wore in the music videos of Thriller and Beat It are on sale
for prices ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
Over at online retail store Amazon.com, the top 15 selling
albums were all by Jackson including two made with his
brothers when they were the ‘Jackson 5’.
Nine of the top 10 selling albums at Apple’s iTunes music
store were from the King of Pop with The Essential Michael
Jackson leading the way. Seven of the top 10 songs being
downloaded on iTunes were by the singer, with ‘Man in the
Mirror’ currently the most popular. The surge in Jackson pop-
ularity was not limited to the United States. Jackson was also
set to top the British album chart on Sunday.
A tribute to Mich His greatest hits album, Number Ones, is set for top spot and
ael Jackson is he up to half a dozen of the singer’s other albums could also make
ld up by a fan.
PHOTO: GETTY IMA
GES the Top 75, according to the Official Charts Company.
“We always find where a great icon dies that there’s a mas-
sive uplift in their music sales as fans want to connect and
express their grief through the records,” said Gennaro Castaldo
of HMV.
“We’ve seen this with people like John Lennon, Elvis, Johnny
Cash and Frank Sinatra over the years. With Michael Jackson in
particular, he was just on the cusp of a big comeback anyway
and we were already beginning to see a lift in sales.”
Jackson had been scheduled to play the first of 50 comeback
concerts in London on July 13. ■
AFP
Monday, June 29, 2009
11
‘‘
Back maybe in ’88 or ’89, he (Michael Jackson) came to Basel. I was outside of the
stadium because there was such excitement that he would come. I was still very young. I
think I went there with my sister and we just listened from the outside.’’
Roger Federer recalls a distant childhood memory of Jackson
KARTHIK SUBRAMANIAN ciated creatively from the fran- petually upset and suffering from The machines are hunting But with Salvation, the fran-
karthik@goergo.in chise. To him, the series was over a severe hangover. He grunts his down Kyle Reese and John Con- chise moves in another direction,
with Arnie signing off ‘Astlavista, motivational talk through radio, nor to crush the rebellion. But that of post-apocalyptic drama.
I
f you are as old as me and Baby’ and being lowered into the offering words of solace and hope the rebel headquarters – an un- The movie looks more like the
from Chennai, chances are smouldering liquid metal by for rebel factions all over the dersea submarine comman- Mad Max series, more like a com-
you would have be an awe- young John Connor. But Holly- world who have been driven un- deered by one General Ashdown ing to terms with a post-apoca-
struck school kid who waited wood seldom allows a good thing derground by the machines that (Michael Ironside wasted in an lyptic scenario. Every thing – and
and waited at the erstwhile Alan- to be. Studio executives, greedy haunt them. insignificant role) – think they I mean every single thing – looks
kar theatre on Anna Salai to get a for the millions, came out with The action begins with the re- have the ultimate weapon against bleak and lost.
ticket and watch the now Gover- the pretty average follow-up, T3: bels launching an assault on a re- Skynet. In ways similar to how the Ju-
nor of California stride out butt Rise of the Machines, shunned by search and development facility The destinies of all the protag- rassic Park series keep running
naked in the opening sequence of critics and fans alike. At least, it of Skynet, the organisation that onists are intertwined as they by adding more and more of
Terminator 2: Judgement Day in had Arnie in it. revolutionises artificial intelli- brave the onslaught of an army of thrills – by way of introducing
easily what must be the greatest The big question now is wheth- gence and manufactures termi- machines and eventually end up better looking dinosaurs than
actioner ever. er Terminator: Salvation is worth nators. Inadvertently the rebels with the classical explanation of: working on the plot – the Termi-
Few cult movies measure up to the ticket price. free a prisoner Marcus Wright “what is it that makes us nator franchise too seems to have
the Terminator franchise. The Blame it on Judgement Day (played thankfully by a sober human?” lost its way. There are a whole
movie firmed up the cinematic and the nuclear holocaust, the looking Sam Worthington) who Though visually far superior to bunch of new terminators
genius of James Cameron – per- puny John Connor (played by seems to be following a pre-des- its prequels, Terminator: Salva- around but somehow they hardly
haps the only director who knows Nick Stahl in T3: Rise of the Ma- tined path towards the Skynet tion suffers from a story and a look threatening.
how to make really good sequels, chines) has metamorphed into a headquarters. The third protago- script that shows incredible fa- The only cheering point for me
examples Aliens and T2: Judge- grunting soldier. In playing the nist of the tale is a teenager Kyle tigue in trying to reinvent and re- at least was a 30 second cameo by
ment Day – as well as the block- messianic leader of the rebellion Reese (Anton Yelchin), the to-be energise a franchise. The first you know who. So what if he
buster hero status of Arnold against the machines, Christian father of John Connor. It’s best three movies were essentially comes by way of a digitally graft-
Schwarzenegger. Bale loses his cape and hood you don’t worry about this if you chase-and-run thrillers. That the ed image? I was sighing of what
Which is where the problems from Batman series but not his don’t already know the Termina- machines looked very human could have been or rather what
lie – James Cameron has disso- ridiculous voice as he looks per- tor franchise. added to the intrigue. should not have been. ■
Leaves
Worthington, Anton Yelchin
little to
salvage
12 ERGO Monday, June 29, 2009
Hitching a ride
A bride in Suffolk, England rode to church on a
tractor after her horse went lame just two days
before her wedding.
sudoku
A.L.Suresh
Babu from
Indiabulls shot
this picture at
Besent Nagar
beach using
Sony DSC H9 -
8 MP camera
Hobbies:
Photography,
Music
KAKURO
So you think you would make a terrific photographer but never really had the
platform? Mail us your best work and we’ll publish it in this space, with credit.
E-mail: clickpick@goergo.in
TEAM
Editor: Karthik Subramanian
karthik@goergo.in
Technical Support:
V.R. Vasudevan, K.G. Gurumurthy
N. Ravichandran, E. Baskar
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES:
Contact: 2857 5757
E-mail: ads@goergo.in
Website: www.goergo.in
Head of Circulation:
M.G.M. Sharief
copies@goergo.in
SNAIL MAIL
859/860, Anna Salai,
Chennai - 600 002
mail your feedback to
feedback@goergo.in
FAX 2857 6691
B.C