Harris Jeyaraj and his same wine in different bottles

This blog was written while I was listening to latest Harris Jeyaraj offering, Maattraan. I like all those songs, no doubt. But why do I get the deja-vu feeling everytime I listen to HJ songs? The "Hey, I've heard that one before" syndrom is very evident when I listen to his tunes.

I think there is less varieties offered by Harris in his songs. He is following the successful path that he has followed over the years without experimenting in his songs. Dont tell me the crap of "this is what I know" and "this is what my fans are asking of me" as you wont know what fans want until you give it to them.  For example, AR Rahman and the recent GV Prakash. I simply admire GVP's courage to experiment in each of his album. Each of his album will have his trademark tunes while others will be totally new. As for ARR, I dont think I have to write about him here as he is already in a different league with his uniqueness.

Even the actor Vijay who has been "drinking the same wine from different bottles" over the years has tried something different in Kaavalan (eventhough I didn't enjoy the movie very much.). He is one guy who always says "I can only do what I know, I won't experiment" and "this is what my fans wants" and now experimenting with different type of movies with Murugadoss and Gautham. I hope he continues to experiment as Vijay definitely has the talent besides just dancing.

Back to story, those days people used to condemn HJ to be a copycat of ARR but nowadays I beg to differ as HJ has established his own style of music making. However, I still hope now and then he will break away from his comfort zone and create new music. He has only composed music for urban movies and as far as I know there is not a single village based album that he is a part of.Well, I think he has Kovil, Arul and Saamy but thats all. Yuvan was one of those guys which we thought can only compose modern music and surprised us with Paruthiveeran.

So, Mr Harris..I think there is a few possibilities here :
1. No producers will approach you if their movie is non-urban movies
2. You do not like to be linked with village based movies
3. You have vowed to someone that you would not experiment in your music creation.

You are one of my favourite music directors and I will be among the first to download your songs from the websites.  Opps...I meant I would be among the first to purchase the Audio CDs once its released. But, I still hope to see some varieties in your album. I guess 95% of all your albums are superhits soI believe it won't go wrong if you start experimenting now.

Thank you and good luck in your future undertakings!

From your humble fan Viknarajan.

(FIX FROM MS THAT WORKS!) Unable to install Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0.

Well, this post is not related at all to photography but this is something relevant to my work. Recently I had an issue to install Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 on one of our Citrix servers in the office. 

The error code that it produced is 0x800b010b. 

After performing some troubleshooting on my own and by searching the Microsoft KBs as well as other forums, I could not find a solution at all. Finally, we has to log a case with Microsoft to find a fix for this.

And, to my surprise, the solution was sooooo simple.

Check out the solution below : 

 ===============================================================================

Symptom

========

Customer unable to install Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 due to an interactive error, the error code is 0x800b010b.

Root Cause

=========

VSSetup package failed to verify signature of netfx_core_x86.msi.

Resolution

=========

1.  Open a command window, and extract .NET package to a specified folder using below command:

     dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe /x

2. You can install .NET Framework using below command lines:

    Install core by using command: netfx_Core_x86.msi EXTUI=1

    Install Extended by using command: netfx_Extended_x86 EXTUI=1 

 ===============================================================================

And, congratulations!!! You now have successfully installed Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0.
Do let me know if you are able to install OR if you have any issues in the below comments section!


Vikna

Is Astro Vaanavil sabotaging local Tamil talents?

I had always wanted to blog about the Astro Tamil channel pouring in all those useless Mega serials\movies\shows 24/7 on the the TV channel.

Watching the below video posted by my colleague on Facebook further fuelled my anger and hence you are now reading this article.

 

 Please share these videos to all that you know

Why this Kolaveri with all this mega-serials? There is too many mega-serial airing on Astro currently. Not saying that it's bad but I just want Astro to remove serials that propagates hatred towards your own family, provide dummies guide to kill a people, ruin another person business, ruin another guys\gals life, serials with a life-span of 5 years, crying to the max and the list goes on. I guess, if they remove serials with only the examples that I provided above, 98% of the serials will not be aired anymore.

Isn't there any serials in India that does not use the camera zooming technology to the max?? Why do you need to zoom in the face of on bloody face with eyes popping out from every possible angle? Not only that, why none of the serials shows good moral values at all?  I'm not saying that there should not be any negative scenes shown in a serial, but if 30 minutes of the serial is only about what I mentioned above, do we still need such serials? How the hell did the local sensor board approve these serials in the first place? Remove all this mega-serials and you could provide more space to the local talents to show off their product.

As I watched the video, Logan mentioned that the Astro Vaanavil's contract is to provide 70% local shows. But almost 90% show on Vaanavil is product from India!! Now now...I know there is Vizhutugal and a few more local shows and the yearly Aattam 100 Vagai and Astro Superstar.But, I think you can count it with your fingers.

It is not that we do not want to watch local shows on TV, its just that there a almost none shown on the TV. And I dont even want to drag RTM on to this article as I stoped watching those channels long time ago.

Well, I do agree to a certain extent that some of the locally produced movies\DVDs has bad quality but hey, there a a few bunch of good ones too. There is always two side of a coin. But, if you give them a change to produce more dramas\movies and air it on television more often, they have a change to improve themselves even faster. This is because as all of us already know, Malaysian movies\DVD mostly released during Thaipusam times only and some during Deepavali. With limited funds and coverage, how often do you think they can produce movies??

And during Deepavali, Astro channel shows lots of interview of stars, movies, movie review, some old shows of the Tamil stars performing in Dubai, UK. What happened to the locally produced shows?? THe airtime of local shows are soo low. I guess I don't have to explain further as you would have watched it yourself.

Again, quoting from Logan, many Malaysians are watching the trash that you are providing on Astro Tamil channels. Don't you think, they will watch Astro if you show local shows too??

We have Astro Vellithirai, Thanggatirai, Sun Music, Aadithya, Astro First showing 100% India's content. Can't we have Astro Vaanavil to show 100% local content? Is it too much to ask for?? Why should the local talents beg for it in our own country?? This is Malaysia and we are all Malaysian. Dr. Rajamani, why are you keeping silent on all the noise made by the local artists? Is it true that you have a agency in India that is serving as an intermediate between India and Malaysia to import all that trash. Are you getting commision from it? There are rumours floating around about this. And again, isn't there any local talents that can fill up his position? Why do we need someone from India to manage our channel? Remove Dr Rajamani and replace with with a Malaysian who knows what Malaysian wants!!

Every single local talent needs a platform to show off their talent. Don't we want to have more talents to get international recognition like Yogi B, Dr Burn, Emcee Jesz? The artists are not demanding something that is impossible to provide. Just give them what is stipulated in the contract that Astro have signed in the first place.

Why do we need to pay so much money for such trash?? And to my fellow readers, don't even think bout saying, "If you don't like it, just unsubscribe from Astro laa". That seems to be an idiotic comment as I am talking only about the Tamil channel and not other channels. What good would it make if I cancel my subscription? Instead, we should provide awareness to the public on what is happening and get them to demand Astro to show more local shows! It's already in the contract, get it???

What is your opinion in this matter? Pour it out at the comments section!

How to Root\Install Recovery on your IceCream Sandwich Transformer

Anyways, two days after the official update I decided to install custom ROM : Revolver 4 by Gnufabio. As I have read before that his previous HoneyComb based ROM was superfast and super good, hence I decided to try it. The first thing I needed to do is to root and install RecoveryMod and below I have provided the steps in case you would love to do so too.

Well, the first thing that you should know is that you are doing this at your OWN RISK and  I will not bear any responsibilities should you damage your Tablet!

There is a few things that you need to download in the first place : 
1. Revolver 4 by Gnufabio (go here to get the latest version) and save it to the internal storage\MicroSD.
2. Asus Sync (to be installed on your computer)
3. TF101 ICS Root (Fileserve) OR TF101 ICS Root (MediaFire)
4. Recovery Installer (Fileserve) OR Recovery Installer (MediaFire)


How to root your beloved Asus Transformer
1. Download this file : Asus Sync under the Utilities menu if you do not have it installed on your PC yet.
2. Download this file : TF101 ICS Root (Fileserve) OR TF101 ICS Root (MediaFire) and extract it to your desktop
3. Ensure that your tablet is connected to your PC via ISB and USB debugging is enabled.
4. Double click the tf101 ics root folder and double click on the run.bat file and make sure you follow the steps as it is very clearly stated already.
5. As per the instruction, when asked you have to make a backup using Asus Backup and once completed, hit enter.
6. It will ask you to perform the same backup once again. Please ensure you backup the same app that you backup earlier. Once completed please press enter and your tablet will automatically reboot.
7. Congratulations! You have rooted your tablet.
8. To verify, you may try to install AdFree or Titanium Backup from the Market.


How to Install ClockWorkMod Recovery
1. Download this file : Recovery Installer(Fileserve) OR Recovery Installer (MediaFire) and install it on your tablet.
2. Open the app and click on "Click here to install Recovery"
3. Your tablet will be automatically rebooted.
4. Congratulations again! You have successfully installed the Recovery.


How to go to Recovery Mode on your Tablet
For me it was a bit confusing for the first time but this is how you do it.
1. Shutdown your tablet.
2. Press the Volume Down button and the Power button at the same time for around 5-7 seconds.
3. You tablet will start up and you will notice a few sentences that is small enough until you cant read it.
4. When you see this, immediately press the Volume Up button. (You can release your fingers from the other buttons)
5. And now you are in the Recovery mode!


How to install Revolver 4 by Gnufabio
Please be aware that this ROM is still in Beta and I will not bear any responsibilities should you damage your Tablet!
1. Once you are in the Recovery mode, select Wipe and wipe the below : 
- Wipe Data (Factory Reset)
- Wipe Cache
- Wipe Dalvik-Cache
2. Click "Install from zip file" and choose the Revolver4 zip file from the location that you have saved earlier and select OK.
3. It will now install the Revolver ROM and once completed, select the "Reboot System" option
4. Once rebooted, it will take a while for it to upgrade the Applications and after completed you will be welcomed to continue with the settings
5. Just follow the on-screen instruction and you are done!


Enjoy the extra sweetness of the Ice Cream Sandwich specially prepared by Gnufabio.
How do you find the above review and the steps provided to install the custom ROM? Do let me know your comments if you have some difficulties.

Asus Eeepad Transformer IceCream Sandwich Review

By now I guess all of you have upgraded to the latest Android love, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).
How do you guys feel about the OTA update? Satisified or totally hate it?
So, below is what I think of the latest OS.

First of all, the moment the tablet boots up after the installation you will be presented with almost the same interface as Honeycomb making you wondering if the tablet was upgraded at all. :P
You will notice the battery bar and the time is in blue and the App button on the top right is different. That is the only difference. But, once you press the Home, Back or the Recent key button, there will be a blue glow that was not there before in Honeycomb.Looks nice.

I clicked on the Home button and it popped up with all the application I had installed prior to the upgrade. There is no more "My Apps" tab and it was replaced by the Widgets tab.Scrolling through the pages was pretty smooth, in fact feels smoother that it was on Honeycomb.

There is a new application called App Locker and I fell in love with that the moment I saw it because it has the ability to password protect your applications. The sole reason I loved it was to prevent my son to open all games that is not intended for his age (He's almost 3 by the way) such as GTA III, 9MM among others. Thank you ASUS for including this in the upgrade.

The keyboard was pretty smooth and the auto-correction is simply awesome.

The next noticeable difference is the statusbar. It is glowing blue colour with the shortcuts for Auto-Rotation, Wifi, Bluetooth, Volume, Auto-Sync and GPS, not forgetting the Brightness. You can access the settings from here too.

Once you click on the Settings, notice that it is categorized to Wireless and Networks, Device, Personal and System. Pretty neat. 

One of the important features incorporated in ICS in my humble opinion is the ability to create folders on the desktop. It was not available on previous versions of Android. Pretty useful and a very attractive folder indeed. Once you touch the folder, it will popup and show all shortcuts inside.

Playing videos is quite smooth. I had no issues with that but I did see a few people complained about it on the XDA forum. Camera interface is improved with the ability to take panorama shots and there is video effects. Unfortunately, the camera hardware sucks so you would not see much improvement over here. The good news is I doubt anyone in this world is using the camera, seriously.

The stock browser was fast and now have the possibilities to do Offline Reading and also Request to view a Desktop site in case you are redirected to a mobile version of the web.
Besides the stock browser, I simply love the Chrome browser (not officially available in all countries but you can get it from here or here). It pretty smooth and quite cool. Try it yourself to know it.

Google Chrome beta

Android Stock Browser

Update - 29th Feb 2012 (Yes, it's a Leap Year)


Yup, I totally forgot about the redesigned Gallery. The new interface is way better than the previous version as you can see in the below screenshot.It is now in a tile interface which I feel is less cluttered than the Honeycomb version. You have option to edit the photos with some new effects thrown in and it does makes the photo looks better. Checkout the special effects options in the screenshot below.

Notice that the album pictures are now larger and easy to view

The pictures inside the album is also in tiles format

Once a picture is selected, there is option to edit the photos. Also, see that you can see small thumbnails of all other photos below the main image.

 

All the effects available in the Edit mode.

So far, this is what I think about the latest Android upgrade. Overall, I am satisfied with it and have no issues whatsoever.
How about you? What do you guys think about ICS? Let the world know what you think by commenting below.

My Favorite Tamil Movie Actors

After writing about politics, I was pondering on what should I write about next and I thought to myself that it has been a while since I last wrote about movies. Yeah, I have written a few movie reviews before. Checkout the link below and my review on Endhiran was also published in Behindwoods.com.


1. ManMadhan Ambu – My Personal Opinion
2. Endhiran – My Personal Opinion
3. Appalam – My Personal Opinion


I love movies..and what do I love about movies, Tamil movies in particular? The story, the actors\actresses, the music, the director, cinematography is the first thing that comes to my mind. So, today I decided to write about my e actors in the current Tamil movie industry. There are many talented actors in the Tamil movie but the world as we know it reckons Indian movie as Bollywood movies and narrows down to Hindi movies as though only Hindi movies and actors are the greatest in India. Of course, there is no denying that there is quite a lot of talented people out there. It just that I hate it when people think movies in India as Bollywood movies only.
Back to the story, my all time favorite is definitely Kamalhaasan and Rajinikanth but I think there is no need for me to explain why I or anyone else in the world like these two guys. They are simply awesome in their own league. One guy is multi talented and he actually can be called the "one man army" of the Tamil movie industry where he can do almost everything related to cinema such as : 
1. Acting
2. Singing
3. Directing
4. Writing screenplay.dialogues, story, lyrics
5. Dance and choreograph (in fact he was a assistant choreographer during his early days)
6. and who knows what else. 


As for Rajinikanth, his mere presence on screen is enough to enchant you. Dot.
Instead of these two guys, I would like to blog about the current generation of actors that I love. Below is what I think about them in chronological order.



My personal favorite until now is definitely Surya since the days of Friends. It is only in Friends that I noticed his acting talent as the best friend of Vijay. Then, of course Nanda came and changed his life forever. He is smart, good looking, have a talent to choose movies that will click with all type of movie-goers and one hell of a performance on screen. One of the best dancers in the industry as well. I loved his latest movie 7-am Arivu as it gave us a new dimension of the martial arts, KungFu. If not for this film, we would have never known that a Tamilian founded this martial arts.
I always love him during TV interviews. He has a diplomatic ways of answering questions and always smiles definately humble. Eagerly awaiting Maatraan and his next with Venkat Prabhu.

Well, he is in the number two list not because of the recent "Kolaveri" rage. I always admired his natural acting skills for long. He may not have the good looks of Surya but he definately can be a strong competitor to him and sometimes even outclasses his performance. For instance, Dhanush's performance in Mayakkam Enna. I believe no one else could have potrayed such a complex character with ease. 
And of course, his voice has now become some sort of national anthem in India. I wish "3" will be another highlight in his film career.

One of the most talented actor in India, I must say for his capabilities to blend well with the character that he is playing. Pithamagan, Raavanan and Deivathirumagal is definately one of the best characters he has done in his career. I simply loved his performance as Veera and of course who can ever forget Krishna in Deivathirumagal. He really made tears flowing in my eyes.
Well, his problem has always choosing the right script and the delay of each movies.I hope after this, he has already overcome those obstacles and that we may enjoy his movies every year. Thaandavam will definately be one of the awaited movie of the year for me since Vikramm, Vijay (the Director) and GV Prakash is teaming up once again.

He may have a big problem choosing a freaking good script but undeniably, he does have acting talent that many people will disagree with me.His last movie that I enjoyed very much was Gilli and Pokkiri to some extent. Many said Velayutham was one of his best movies, but I beg to differ. I totally hated that movie for many reasons that I do not want to talk about here. Nanban was a good movie, definately and will be landmark movie for him, Though, not as good as the original, I still loved the movie. 
His plus point is definately in the comic and dance department.He should try to act in more comedy based movies rather that those typical masala movies with the same story lines.  I really hope Thuppaki and Yohan : Addyaayam Ondru will change my perception towards him.
And one more thing, please try to be more energetic when you give interview in TV channels. I often feel like you are giving interview while half asleep. Take example from Surya, please.

The Boss. This guy is really good in comedy. Does not mind acting in multi-starrers and seriously talented and good looking. Loved his performance in Madrasapattinam, Boss Engira Baskaran and even Vettai. This guy is ever energetic no matter if he is on screen or offscreen. Not so sure what movie is he acting next, but definately worth waiting. 


These are the top 5 guys which made in to my favorite list. I made this list based on my own preferences and how I feel when I see then onscreen and has nothing to do with their personal lives. I don't even care how they are in their personal life as they are not my friends. I just see them as an actor. I hope no one is offended after reading this and even if you do, I can't help it. Sorry.


How about yours?

Malaysia : Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku

I have always refrained from writing about politics\religion\race in my blog ever since I have launch it 2 years back. However, I changed my policy to write about it without being too harsh. It is sad to know that such a lovely country that I live now have come to this current state. 
Well, we still live in harmony and love is still in the air amongst majority of the people of Malaysia.It is still a few minority group that is trying to cause chaos in the country and by the look of it, they are failing each and every time they try to do just that. The year is not 1969 anymore, it is 2012. People are way smarter and brighter that before.


One this that never fails to amuse me is that  we are not afraid to vote to a government that have continuingly suppressing human rights right in front of our eyes, misuse public funds, misuse race\religion and yet we choose to close one eye by saying that without them the country will fall. (As if the country is not falling already..) 54 years?? And yet, there is so many controversies that is popping every now and then like mushrooms after the rain. I do not wish to list them one by one over here as there is enough online portals that is reporting extensively about this.And again, we are not afraid to vote loyally for the past 54 years to the same government, but we a freaking out to vote for a different government and give then just 5 years to run the country. I find this really weird. Just look at the 5 states governed by the Pakatan team. Is these states dying already? By the looks of it, they are in the best level in just less that 4 years. Yes, I do agree there is some issues cropping now and then but I believe it is still manageable. One more thing, the choice is in our hands, if you don't like them, just vote them out in the next elections. Its just as simple as that.


Some might think that, 
BN = Malaysia  and 
Malaysia = BN. 
But the truth is pretty damn far from that. 
BN = the current government and 
The current government = BN.


Checkout the Meaning of Government here.


The current government can be changed at any time during the election of course and by doing this you are NOT BETRAYING YOUR COUNTRY! Remember that! 
You betray your country if you sell top secrets of the country to other nations, use people's money for your own personal uses such as buying condos, building huge bungalow houses, enriching your own family all in the expense of the people's tax money.Well, there is more to the definition of betrayal which you can look up by googling it. But, I am damn sure that choosing a different government to rule is not in the list.


As a human being, I believe that there is NO religion OR race that is above the other. God have created us equal in this world and how you choose to live the life is in your freaking hands. 
Unfortunately, race and religion is being misused by every single polition in this country for their
own benefits. For example, the recent "white ang pow" incident. I do not know whether Ibrahim Ali did it on purpose or not, but the attendees of the event accepted it without any comments, right? Then, why make it a national issue? Anyhow, a well learnt lesson to all Malaysian, white ang pow is used during funerals only.And of course, there is the cow head, pig head incidents as well. Please spare the animals to discrace others. It is an insult to these animals. And the list goes on...Use religion to teach positive things to bring a betterment to this country, not otherwise please!


Yes, Chinese and Indians among others came to Tanah Melayu those days and brought in by the British. But, that was so long ago. As a Malaysian, I ONLY love MY country as this is where I was born. Just because my great-grandfather came from India does not mean that I can go and stay in India as told by some politician in the Dewan Rakyat. A simple message to all, just because I do not like the current government, DOES NOT MEAN I have 
betrayed my country. I just want our country to be still alive when my son grows up. I want my son to grow and study and spend his life as a Malaysian in Malaysia. Well, that is my wish. I am not sure about his just yet as he is just approaching 3 years old. :P


Kids are the perfect example as to how we should live among Malaysians. I am sending my son to daycare near my office which consists of pretty much of locals and foreigners. Whenever I go to pick him up after office, I see them playing together happily and not limiting themselves to be with the same race. There was one Malay boy who always comes and hugs me and last week one small Japanese boy did the same. They always say goodbye to my son as we leave. Such lovely boys and girls there.  Now, if only all Malaysian politician can do that. We, the common people of Malaysia have been doing that since even before the motto "1Malaysia" exists. We do not need such motto to strengthen our co-existense, in my humble opinion.


Just for the personal stake of a few politician, the country is in a dilemma now which many people in the rural area does not know, thanks to the national media which only reports one side of the story.The young people of Malaysia, please oh please let your parents know the truth of what is happening in Malaysia and together lets grow together as Malaysians and live a happily ever after life just like in the fairy tales. Yes, it can happen if you believe in it.Then again, just believing in something is simply not enough. Take action and the change will happen right in front of your naked eyes.


Well, what do you think of the current state of our country? Share your comments below.