BarCamp Kerala 3 date and venue is finalized.

Date :- Dec 7, 2008

Venue :- Cochin University of Science and Technology

Click Here To Register

Please blog about the event and let everyone know.

The tigers are one of the most royal and powerful species of animals in the world. Personally, they are my favourite. I received an e-mail from my friend with these pictures of the Sumatran Tiger.

The Sumatran tiger is the smallest of all still existing tiger subspecies. Male Sumatran tigers average 234 cm (7 feet, 8 inches) in length from head to tail and weigh about 136 kg (300 pounds). Females average 198 cm (6 feet, 6 inches) in length and weigh about 91 kg (200 pounds). Its stripes are narrower than other subspecies of tigers’ stripes, and it has a more bearded and maned appearance, especially the males. Its small size makes it easier to move through dense rain forests. It has webbing between its toes that, when spread, makes Sumatran tigers very fast swimmers. It has been known to drive hoofed prey into the water, especially if the prey animal is a slow swimmer.

For more info - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatran_Tiger

I was very confused whether to analyze the film in the view of a critic or as fan. But, the makers had already told that the movie has been made with fans in mind. So here is my fan’s eye view of Twenty 20.

Twenty 20 is a superb masala entertainer from the word go. The movie is an intended thriller but half the things you see can be predicted 15 minutes into the movie. A special mention about the script writers. The Udayakrishna-Sibi K. Thomas duo have done a fantastic job in sketching out the characters. The characters of the superstars have equal importance. The comedy is what makes the film work apart from the trademark punch dialogues of the stars.

Mohanlal, Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Jayaram and Dileep share most of the screen time, but the other characters also make their presence felt. For a Malayalam movie fan twenty 20 is a roller coaster ride. Suraaj Venjarumoodu and Salim Kumar steal the show in the comedy department. The actors look good and all of them carry the movie on their shoulders very well. This is the stron point of Twenty 20.

The music is a big letdown apart from ‘He Deewana’ which is colourful and youthful. Costumes of the actors are very good. Camera work and editing are excellent. Action sequences are also very well choreographed. Direction by Joshiy is also good keeping in mind the star power he had to handle. Another special mention of the man behind this well made venture.

The only complaint I have is the movie’s length which is nearly 2 hours 50 minutes.

For a fan, Twenty 20 is an absolutely enjoyable fare. With twists and turns, comedy, action and a truck load of star power, Twenty 20 has the potential to rewrite almost all the existing records in the Malayalam movie industry.

Better music and a 15 minutes less, this movie would have been an almost perfect entertainer.

Rating: 9/10

Make A Difference (M.A.D) is a youth volunteer network that currently functions in the three cities of Cochin, Pune and Chennai… 312 volunteers teach more than 1200 underprivileged kids English and computer skills in these three cities to enable them to have better career prospects…

These children live in street shelters and orphanages. Without proper guidance, their lives will go astray. MAD makes sure that they have the proper life skills to make it in life. Then MAD tries to get them placed at jobs where they can live their potential…

MAD was recently picked as one of fifteen finalists for the international Youth Social Entrepreneur Awards which is a prestigious award bestowed by the Ashoka group. MAD became the only Indian entry in this competition in spite of 521 nominations from 60 odd countries. The final winner will be picked by online voting.

Click on the image to register and vote !!!

Now its the final battle and the number of votes decides the winner. Please vote for this noble cause and do spread the message. Your vote will really Make a Difference.

Let’s try and bring pride to our country by spreading word about the achievements of our countrymen. To stand up and be recognized in such a multi-faced international crowd is an achievement in itself.

Spread the word the only way we know how to do it.

Blog - http://www.makeadiff.in/blog

Yesterday, I had participated in a short film making competition at YCET, Kollam. Let me tell you two important lessons I learnt.

Lesson 1 in Film Making – Making a film shouldn’t be a race against time.

Lesson 2 in Film Making – You should make a film because you want to make it, not because the film has to be made.

Everything began badly with the camera with which we were to shoot being unavailable. I somehow managed to get hold of a handycam just in time. The theme for the film was ‘Melody Of Youth’ (which none of us could figure out what the organisers meant by this) which was given minutes before the competition began. Constraints were the 5 minute duration and a work time of 4 hours. We shot the movie, edited it but couldn’t dub it properly even after getting the time duration of the competition extended by a couple of hours. I have a confession to make that the film we made was a rip off of another short film made by our seniors.

We didn’t win any prize, but the lesson I learnt was very valuable. Many of our competitors had pre filmed shots as they had guessed the theme would be campus related. But we shot the whole film (5 mins 30 secs approx) then and there. We enjoyed filming it but the editing and dubbing was tedious as our tensions were running high as the time remaining was too little. This is the first competition our whole team attended and we did pretty well for our first attempt.