This blog has moved

I am moving my blog. Will reveal the details soon! And oh, I know the looks of this blog has changed, but it's gonna pretty much look like this. But the new blog looks much better, I can promise you that!

Delicious

Just figured out how to add the delicious thingy on to my blog. Please add me if you are on delicious.

Removed your links

As I said here, I have moved all my feeds to Google reader. The posts I want to share are anyway on the blog. Therefore, I have removed all the links to my friends' blogs from here. But I will continue to read them on the reader and share them with you.

Chandrachoodan takes a dig at Desipundit

I have known Chandrachoodan for a while now. We used to jointly blog at Chennai Metblogs. In his latest post, CC takes a dig at Desipundit's anti-Tamil bias. As he says, the bias is very latent and being a rare reader of Desipundit I have never discovered it myself too. That said, I think you should read the post. It's here.

Comments

Forewarning: This might sound pathetic. Ever since I resumed blogging after my month-long break, the number of comments on my blog have sharply decreased. A couple of blog readers said they could not post their comments for various reasons. A request to everyone who reads this blog: Do make your comments if you have more than "nice blog" to say. Even if you want to say " nice blog", still go head and say it :) Suddenly, it seems impossible to keep going without your valuable feedback. If you use a blog reader, please take the trouble of visiting the blog and adding your comment.

Google reader

When I began blogging, Bloglines was happening. Having never blogged before and lacking in finesse to use a blog reader, I just visited blogs randomly. Without boasting, I can say I really explored blogs, got my teeth into it and all. It was adventurous to go to a blog with the certain knowledge that you will never visit it again. Gradually, I discovered Google reader. For a few weeks now, I have the Google reader thingy - it has the title Nandhu's shared items - on my blog in which I can share with you guys what I liked of what I have read. Please make sure you read the post on Potter from New York Review of Books. Come to think of it, I often update this widget. More often certainly than I update my own blog. So keep an eye on it. Many of the posts are better than mine.

Proud moment

I have been named as a captain of the Chennai Metblogs. All my articles written for Metblogs (85 at last count) are here. Just wanted to share the happy news with you all.

Your Oscar goes to...

You have probably seen the Oscar nominees' list. You probably have guessed who will make the cut. I have seen a few films - among them Babel, The Departed (reviewed here), Little Miss Sunshine, Apocalypto and Blood Diamond. I am planning to run an Oscar week on this blog. If you have reviewed any movie nominated for any Oscar, please leave a comment and link and I will feature them on this blog.

Random stuff

If you are a Chennai Metblogs reader, you want to read this first.

*******
Ok, that done we can move on with business. I have seen Blue, Elephant and Alphaville. Will post reviews soon. The reason why I am getting to watch so many nice movies is because I have finally started buying DVDs. Pirated. 80 bucks each. If you are in Chennai, mail me for the number of the guy who can home deliver it.

*******
My grandma returned from the US this week. My aunt, her husband and their newborn are visiting too. I went to the airport at midnight and stood there patiently for two hours. Got a gift-wrapped chocolate box to show for it. Last night, when I retrieved the box from the fridge, it fell down and all the chocolates, which are wrapped in gold foil, scattered. Guess what I was thinking? How could I blog about this? The chocolates, when I tasted them later, were yummy.

*******
Have you heard of this site called PutVote? It's a social bookmarking site. Here's a dummies guide to putvoting from Prabhu. Read that and try to vote for blogs you like. I have found it to be fun.

*******
New additions to film reviews on sidebar:
Thavamai Thavamirunthu, Casino Royale, Aguirre: The Wrath of God

Casino Royale: Bond gets real

How difficult was it to reinvent James Bond?

When critics say that Daniel Craig is the best bond since Sean Connery and closest to Ian Fleming’s literary creation, are they reacting to minor changes in the Bond formula? After all, any Bond film made now has to take into account the MI series and the Bourne films, particularly the latter, which seem to have changed action movies forever? And isn’t it time anyone making a Bond movie was influenced by Quentin Tarantino? Or took into account the newfound love for dark movies among both critics and audiences? Now, unlike in the sixties, everyone loves grey; black and white is passé.

But the counter argument is powerful. For 21 official films – Dr No was made in 1962 – and through five Bonds, the franchise remained, at least in its essentials, largely the same. Bond is suave, intelligent, handsome and lethal. Except in the case of Roger Moore, who made Bond silly instead of lethal. He was a delight in his own way, but he played himself instead of Bond. But in the early years of the franchise, it was Connery who enthralled audiences worldwide with his cool smile and smooth talking ways. He was Bond, in all his glory, and those who came after found it hard to replace him. That was the story for all actors who stepped into the Bond shoes.

For me growing up in the 90s, the Bond movies were campy and outdated. Having never witnessed the paranoia of the Cold War, Bond movies seemed to be like a Mediterranean cruise. And Bond always won. And you always knew it. Like the Bard says, the rub always lies in the how.

Golden Eye was the first Bond movie of my time. It reprises all the clichés, the out-of-the-world opening sequence, the two Bond girls, the amazing stunt sequences, the gadgets, the BMW, the globe trotting, and the megalomaniac villain who is out to destroy the world. It smelled like euphoria. But every Bond movie made after that was a disappointment. I wasn’t sure if I had become big or the movies small. But it just wasn’t the same anymore.

It isn’t the same with Casino Royale too. Bond has been, perhaps, forever changed. First of all he gets real. Then he gets vulnerable and falls in love. He gets beaten up, stabbed and tortured. He has scars on his face, and through the course of a night in a club, his shirt is repeatedly drenched in blood, some of which is his.

The changes begin right from the opening sequence. Instead of the gravity-defying stunt sequence, we see Bond making his first two killings and earning the 007 status. What could have been the opening sequence comes a little later as Bond chases a Black runner through the streets of Madagascar in what must be one of the best Bond chases ever. But this one is on foot.

Later in the movie, there is a car chase. The villains have the Bond girl, played by the dignified, virginal Eva Green. Bond is chasing them in his Aston Martin. Classic Bond scenario. The first Bond chase was in a boat in From Russia, With Love, I think. None of them have ended in an accident. So director Martin Campbell (Golden Eye, Zorro) end this chase in one.

He also does away with Money Penny, the adoring secretary to M, and Q, the gadgetmaker. The famous score doesn’t make an appearance in its entirety till the closing credits. “The name is Bond, James Bond,” is said again only at the end. Ironically, someone else says it before Bond in the movie.

Craig is outstanding in a couple of scenes. In one he is washing away his wounds in front of a hotel room mirror. In another, he almost dies in his favourite car of a cardiac arrest. He plays Bond as a spy instead of a superhero. This is the how-it-all-began story and so all that makes sense.

As the movie unfolded, I realised that Campbell had based the entire movie on the novel. In my teens, I had thought of that as a very boring novel. But that is believed to be Fleming’s best writing. The loyal adaptation works in some cases, and even when it should not work, it does. Like when Bond drinks poison. Everyone in the theatre knows Bond cannot die. But that scene is one of the best of the sort made since Connery beat to death a large spidery creature put in his bed in Dr No. (Wasn’t it?)

Another new thing is the torture sequence adapted from the novel. Bond is stripped bare and tortured in a way that makes Goldfinger look like a wuss. Bond also falls in love, for the last time, with the Eva Green character. He falls, falls hard and learns his lesson. Trust no one.

But again was it so hard to do this? It really wasn’t. But what cannot be explained is how hard it was to reinvent Bond. To make him real, vulnerable, and dark. To put fear, pain and loss in his eyes. That is what is different in this Bond movie. That is why you shouldn’t miss it.

It’s not about how good the movie is. It is about how good it opens up the series for the movies to come.

Read proper reviews here, and here.


********
Time magazine recently listed the 100 best albums of all time. Some of my favourites Graceland and Blonde on Blonde are there.

*********
During the last few days, I wrote three Metblogs. On the Common Entrance Test, Chit Chat, a restaurant, and on the rains. There are more here.

Down and out in Chennai and Bangalore

I am down with a cold and chest congestion. Sniff sniff. No blogging. I think I caught it in Bangalore.

On Blogstreet, I'm 46

According to Blogstreet.com, I am now a very popular blogger in India. For three days now, I am at 46 in their list of top 100 bloggers. I don't seem to have the links or the hits to show for such popularity. Is this a prank on me? Not sure.

Blog on e-mail, Feedburner

You can now get my blog posts in your inbox by clicking on the relevant message below on the sidebar or subscribe to my blog feed by using the feedburner icon, which is a small orange coloured thingy. You would still have to visit my blog to put in your comments. Have fun!

Two-timing or is it three-timing?

I am also a blogger at Chennai Metblogs where I write about the city of Chennai. My book and film reviews and other assorted stuff are available at Desicritics. Some of these posts are not dated and still worth a read.

BlogCamp humour

Overheard:
Blocka? Seria kekkalae? Appadina? Concrete blocka? Onnum puriyalaye.

The above happened when a BlogCamp organiser tried to explain to somebody's mom what he was doing. She thought he was doing something with a concrete block.

(Spiced up version of true story)

BlogCamp on Desicritics

Read my article about BlogCamp from an organiser's perspective here, and the report from Kishore Gopalan, also an editor at Desicritics, here.

Blog Camp trivia

Did you know...
That Amit Agarwal's 15-month-old kid is called Google.
Of the time Kiruba knocked off a post after being pressured by ICICI?
Hear of the confessionals about first loves made at the beach during the party by Rupya, Kiruba and a lot of bloggers?
I slept in the middle of the session on podcasting?
That Atul Chitnis believes that all bloggers have a mandate to gloat?
What Desicritics wrote about put vote, a social bookmarking site?

BlogCamp speech: A work in progress

My subject here today is blogging as journalism. I must start with a frank admission that the history of journalist-bloggers is not familiar to me. But the logical place to start is with this question: When did blogging as journalism begin in india:
India Uncut’s Amit Varma’s decision to cover the tsunami – which saw the daily hits to his blog rise from a mere 800 to 13,000 – must be a recent landmark. Another would be Gaurav Sabnis’s exposure of IIPM in August 2005 and his subsequent resignation from IBM.
The next question – one that is often asked - is blogging journalism? Can blogs that carry news – as original reportage or analysis – be called journalism?
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to look up any discussion about the Indian situation on the subject on the Internet. But let me quote you an example from the American media.
Last April, PBS, an American channel, asked this question on its flagship programme, Newshour. A top executive from MSNBC said no, it wasn’t. Bloggers can’t be called journalists, he said. He pointed to the absence of the editorial filter in most blogs and argued that, because of this absence, the content in blogs wouldn’t constitute journalism. Bloggers appearing on the same programme, however, disagreed.
What is an editorial filter? Mainstream media – newspapers, radio and tv channels - act as a gatekeepers of news. They decide what is news and what isn’t and this is what we consume on a daily basis. Let’s return to the argument – is blogging journalism?
When small, independent online publications with an amateur staff perform original reporting on community affairs, few would contest that they're engaged in journalism. Example: Chennaionline. You can have no doubts in ur mind that what chennaionline does is journalism. For those not familiar with chennaionline, I am here referring to sites like drudge report.
When citizens contribute photos, video and news updates to mainstream news outlets, many would argue they're doing journalism. Example the scores of videos all of us saw on ndtv during the tsunami. Or those we see of the Katrina or any disaster for that matter.
But here is the moot point. when bloggers comment on and link to news stories, is that journalism? Usually no -- but it depends. When the blogger adds personal commentary that relies on original research, or if someone considered an authority on the subject does it, some, at least, would consider it journalism.
When a blogger conducts a phone interview with a newsworthy subject and posts it to his Weblog –like kiruba did a few back with Guy Kawasaki-- or somebody does some research to turn up the address, phone number and e-mail of an alleged rape victim and post these details on their blog -- some would consider those acts of journalism, too.
But even though the question is blogging journalism is an attractive one, it’s almost irrelevant now. Many are convinced that it is indeed journalism. And the blogs at the tsunami have added credibility to the argument that blogging is indeed journalism. Now with more recent events, the argument has moved forward. We must now attempt to scratch out the deeper pattern.
But before we do that we might consider the differences that blogging has with Big Journalism.
What exactly are the differences between traditional mainstream media and bloggers who engage in journalism?
Two aspects are immediately apparent. One is interactivity. When u write an article in a newspaper or broadcast a report on the channel you talk. When u blog, u converse. The other is the lack of space constraint. A blogger has flexibility of space. In a magazine or a newspaper, a journalist is constrained by length – he can’t write too much and, in instances where he might want to share a vignette or a telling observation, he can’t write too little. On a blog, that isn’t an issue.
Third is the ability to hyperlink: on a blog I can link to pictures, audio clips and videos to tell u the story. I have the ability to take the reader with me on the journey. I can even link to another blog to add to another aspect of the story or even borrow a bit from a newspaper or tv channel. This btw is a difference between newspapers and new media.
Four immediacy or Instantaneity: when you're writing for, say, a weekly magazine, it seems like it takes forever to see your work in print. With a Weblog, you hit the send key and it's out there. It's the perfect “disposable journalism” for our age.
Five: a blogger can add the personal touch. He or she can tell the story in a personal tone. This is the opposite in mainstream media. The word ‘I’ as you are taught in journalism school is to be shunned.
Let’s get to the two less obvious differences. These are two points, which I as a journalist value greatly.
Creative freedom: Part of a blog's allure is its unmediated quality. Allow me to paraphrase from a website. This is a journalist, who has a widely read blog in the US who said this. “For a journalist, there's no luxury like the luxury of the unedited essay. There's an enormous freedom in being able to present yourself precisely as you want to, however sloppily or irrationally or erratically. I don't have an editor to pitch the story to, or a copy editor who decides he's not happy with my syntax... You think it, you write it, you put it out to the world."
The other is the Lack of marketing constraints. "The people who are interested in your perspective find you, instead of you having to find a publication that reflects their interests. You don't have to necessarily tailor your work for a certain readership or demographic. A god given gift that is to bloggers, if you ask me.
We must also differentiate between the terms citizen journalism and blogging – both are often freely interchanged but mean two different things:
What is citizen journalism? As many others are doing now, I turned to the wikipidea: Citizen journalism, also known as "participatory journalism," is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information"
From that definition it’s clear the citizen journalism is altogether a different creature from the simple act of a blogger writing a news report or an analytical piece. Citizen journalism surely accommodates the act of blogging but when I see a report from Jawaharlal Nehru University done by that university’s students on reservation in higher institutions appear on CNN-IBN
Or
When merinews, a sponsor for this event, uses ordinary citizens and scholars to write the bulk of its content
That is very different from a blogger sitting alone at home and writing about what he or she thinks of reservation. Or for that matter write an expose on IIPM’s alleged fraud.
Citizen journalism in way precedes blogging. Jay Rosen, who today runs PressThink, which is a blog, was one of the early proponents of participatory journalism. Citizen journalism itself is traced to the 1988 US presidential elections and the erosion of public trust in large media houses. Some Americans were also disgusted with politics and politicians. Somewhere here began the first infant steps towards what we today call citizen journalism.
In more recent times, we can take the highly successful example of ohmynews, a South Korean-based media house, which has used ordinary people to generate as much as 80% of its content. According to the paper, every citizen is a reporter, and now more than 40,000 people have contributed to the content of this newspaper. The widespread availability of broadband and a good computer penetration has made this possible in South Korea. This model is also being replicated in Japan.
But in India where Internet connections are unreliable and computer penetration is low – not many people especially those in rural areas can afford a computer – will citizen journalism be as meaningful or successful? Will it become a force to contend with? Or is it just a fad to get your stuff on TV? Many people with good reason – because of such issues as widespread illiteracy - are highly skeptical of the effectiveness of citizen journalism in India. We do tend to estimate the masses as being ignorant, unaware and dull.
But let’s look for a minute at a highly successful blog - one that has an almost notorious reputation in the television journalism industry. Warfornews.blogspot.com. I cant possibly ignore that site’s contribution to this whole discussion. I am not a regular at the site. Neither have I ever had the guts to comment there. I am told in some organizations that might cost me my job. But whatever your views, warfornews has in the six short months since its inception become one of the most popular media watchdogs – as it were- in India.
A short intro for those of u not familiar: On January 5 this year, theallseeingspy wrote ‘the declaration of war’ on the site. The professed aim was to cover the “war for news” between NDTV and the newly lauched CNN-IBN. Theallseeingspy was eventually joined by two other bloggers- Artemis Zoop and the Watchful Acolyte. All three have made vituperative attacks on the big channels. But this August saw only three posts. And the email leaks from the media houses – that made the site so popular - seemed to have been stopped. But in the meantime the channels have definitely taken a trashing.
I must now got back to the where I began from and start to summarise this brief speech. But for that I would like you get away from the debate surrounding small journalism vs Big Journalism. That debate more or less is killing our perspectives and keeping us from looking at what is both obvious and interesting. What is clear is that there is now an extension of the press. Tom Curley, who runs Associated Press, calls it’s a “huge shift in the balance of power” from the “content providers to the content consumers”.
It means that professional journalism – in the world as a whole – no longer has sovereignty over news. This doesn’t mean that big media houses shut shop and go away. It just means that their influence isn’t singular anymore.
We must also consider another simple fact. Because of the fact that bloggers in their thousands are commenting on news and analyzing it on their own the sovereignty of editorial writers and oped-columnists on the reaction to news is gone. I constantly find that bloggers often go one-up on the sleepy op-ed page. I am not saying that the oped pages of newspapers have lost their influence. But now for their first time, their ideas – and their imagination – are under pressure. And they never anticipated that this was even possible. Now professional journalists are being forced to share media space with amateurs.
Now journalism is seeing a rare moment. Let me quote from a 2003 report titled New Directions for New. It says: “Journalism’s hegemony as gatekeepers of news is threatened by not new technology and competitors but potentially by the audience it serves.” It thought there was a Frankensteinian ring to that quote.
We tend to think of credibility in journalism as a zero sum game. Credibility gained by bloggers is not what is lost by MSMs. Or vice versa. Also we in India tend to look at the Internet a little suspiciously. We are a little sceptic about news that appears on it. But frankly I have no sympathy for people who read that George Bush had an alien love child on the Net and go – really? Also we cannot be blind about the loss of objectivity and credibility in the mainstream media over the years.
What bloggers and journalist have is not an adverse relationship. They certainly can peacefully coexist and learn from one another. Moreover, journalists own a debt to bloggers. Amateurs in a large part – those who have nothing to do with news- are today preparing this platform of blogging that journalists might one day occupy. Or confront. But journalist must see that the tool is being readies and sharpened not by fellow journalist but by bloggers.
To end, let me quote from Amit Varma. This is from an Indian Express article he wrote called ‘the world according to me’, I think sometime after his coverage of the tsunami.
“I find it odd that so many of the news stories on blogs in 2004 focussed on a “Blogs v Big Media” storyline, which makes for an interesting peg, but is misleading. I don’t think that there is a conflict between blogs and any other journalistic medium. Just as TV did not kill print, blogging is no threat to either print or TV. On the contrary, it enhances both the breadth and depth of the coverage that journalism provides and, as one-day cricket did to Test cricket, it might introduce new skills and values to the older forms of journalism. That can only be good for the reader, and that is all that matters.”

BlogCamp at TIDEL Park

The venue of the BlogCamp has been shifted to TIDEL Park in Taramani, Chennai. The website of the camp at www.blogcamp.in has all the details about the camp.

BlogCamp - curtain raiser

It is ironical that a reason I am unable to blog as much as I would like to is because I am actually an organiser for BlogCamp. It will be held in Chennai on September 9 and 10. We are a bunch of amazingly enthusiastic guys – most of them are geeks – trying to see if we can pull this off.
Details are here on www.blogcamp.in. Do visit us. You can even pitch in and help us organise the event as this is, unlike most meetings, an unconference. An unconference is this trendy way of holding conferences, where everybody is an active participant and no one is a passive spectator. There are more rules, some have a profound meaning and some are just whacko. The website does describe what an unconference is in detail. I will be posting more details about BlogCamp in the coming days.
If you need further help in getting details, you sure can mail me at nandhu.sundaram@gmail.com.