I built a program to automate my movie wishlist by scraping IMDb ratings and links. It helps me decide what to watch next and automatically tracks movies I've already seen across categories like Hitchcock, Pixar, and the Top 250.

I watch a lot of movies. Over the last year, I've watched over 250 movies (and read 50 books, but that's another story). Other than making time to watch movies, my biggest problem is figuring out what to watch next. The IMDb top 250 is a good guideline, and I'm running my way down the list. Twofifty.org has been useful to track what I've seen as well. But I have interests outside of the IMDb Top 250, and I need a way of tracking these. I started a "to watch" Excel sheet. But there were three problems: 1. I would forget what the movie was about 2. I wouldn't know what to watch next 3. I'd have to manually delete movies I'd seen So I wrote a program to do this automatically and create a movie wishlist. I just write the names of movies I want to see, and the program finds these movies on IMDb, gets their ratings and links them. It also goes through my "seen" movies and strikes out stuff I've seen. So I can just click on the movie to see what it's about. I can sort by rating or votes to decide what to see next. And I don't have to manually strike out anything. These are the movies I want to see. IMDb Top 250 Movies from the IMDb Top 250. You can track movies you've seen on this list at 250.s-anand.net. | Rating | Votes | Year | Name | | ------ | ------ | ---- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | 9.1 | 184462 | 1972 | The Godfather | | 9.1 | 222355 | 1994 | The Shawshank Redemption | | 8.9 | 104446 | 1974 | The Godfather: Part II | | 8.8 | 167348 | 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | | 8.8 | 51126 | 1966 | Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il | | 8.8 | 89621 | 1942 | Casablanca | | 8.8 | 133063 | 1993 | Schindler's List | | 8.7 | 189910 | 1994 | Pulp Fiction | | 8.7 | 48352 | 1954 | Shichinin no samurai | | 8.7 | 142585 | 1980 | Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back | | 8.7 | 179427 | 1977 | Star Wars | | 8.7 | 96495 | 1975 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | | 8.7 | 56917 | 1954 | Rear Window | | 8.7 | 210181 | 2001 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | | 8.6 | 42912 | 1957 | 12 Angry Men | | 8.6 | 122980 | 1981 | Raiders of the Lost Ark | | 8.6 | 139737 | 1995 | The Usual Suspects | | 8.6 | 53478 | 2002 | Cidade de Deus | | 8.6 | 85885 | 1964 | Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb | | 8.6 | 165925 | 2002 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | | 8.6 | 72218 | 1960 | Psycho | | 8.6 | 97798 | 1990 | Goodfellas | | 8.6 | 79898 | 1941 | Citizen Kane | | 8.6 | 28071 | 1968 | C'era una volta il West | | 8.6 | 48162 | 1959 | North by Northwest | | 8.6 | 128067 | 2000 | Memento | | 8.5 | 121934 | 1991 | The Silence of the Lambs | | 8.5 | 41966 | 1962 | Lawrence of Arabia | | 8.5 | 54159 | 1946 | It's a Wonderful Life | | 8.5 | 23989 | 1950 | Sunset Blvd. | | 8.5 | 87688 | 2001 | Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le | | 8.5 | 164764 | 1999 | Fight Club | | 8.5 | 147050 | 1999 | American Beauty | | 8.5 | 192905 | 1999 | The Matrix | | 8.5 | 46127 | 1958 | Vertigo | | 8.4 | 88542 | 1979 | Apocalypse Now | | 8.4 | 67656 | 1976 | Taxi Driver | | 8.4 | 88315 | 2004 | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | | 8.4 | 124843 | 1995 | Se7en | | 8.4 | 20663 | 1957 | Paths of Glory | | 8.4 | 79502 | 1994 | Léon | | 8.4 | 42176 | 1962 | To Kill a Mockingbird | | 8.4 | 36284 | 1974 | Chinatown | | 8.4 | 90124 | 1998 | American History X | | 8.4 | 28044 | 2004 | Untergang, Der | | 8.4 | 25776 | 1949 | The Third Man | | 8.4 | 50593 | 2002 | The Pianist | | 8.3 | 83635 | 1975 | Monty Python and the Holy Grail | | 8.3 | 17778 | 1931 | M | | 8.3 | 14759 | 1948 | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | | 8.3 | 38774 | 1981 | Boot, Das | | 8.3 | 41643 | 2001 | Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi | | 8.3 | 30184 | 1957 | The Bridge on the River Kwai | | 8.3 | 90722 | 1997 | L.A. Confidential | | 8.3 | 85925 | 1979 | Alien | | 8.3 | 26448 | 1941 | The Maltese Falcon | | 8.3 | 90761 | 1971 | A Clockwork Orange | | 8.3 | 75787 | 2000 | Requiem for a Dream | | 8.3 | 31146 | 2004 | Hotel Rwanda | | 8.3 | 17544 | 1927 | Metropolis | | 8.3 | 73473 | 1980 | The Shining | | 8.3 | 16538 | 1944 | Double Indemnity | | 8.3 | 97378 | 1992 | Reservoir Dogs | | 8.3 | 134982 | 1998 | Saving Private Ryan | | 8.3 | 27965 | 1952 | Singin' in the Rain | | 8.3 | 17350 | 1950 | Rashômon | | 8.3 | 94965 | 2005 | Sin City | | 8.3 | 39024 | 1980 | Raging Bull | | 8.3 | 15107 | 1936 | Modern Times | | 8.3 | 19253 | 1962 | The Manchurian Candidate | | 8.3 | 84850 | 1986 | Aliens | | 8.3 | 16306 | 1940 | Rebecca | | 8.2 | 28511 | 1963 | The Great Escape | | 8.2 | 34487 | 1959 | Some Like It Hot | | 8.2 | 17935 | 1950 | All About Eve | | 8.2 | 16059 | 1958 | Touch of Evil | | 8.2 | 41966 | 2006 | The Departed | | 8.2 | 52849 | 2004 | Million Dollar Baby | | 8.2 | 85137 | 1968 | 2001: A Space Odyssey | | 8.2 | 49539 | 1984 | Amadeus | | 8.2 | 14918 | 1957 | Sjunde inseglet, Det | | 8.2 | 51923 | 1997 | Vita è bella, La | | 8.2 | 65784 | 1975 | Jaws | | 8.2 | 32450 | 1973 | The Sting | | 8.2 | 15343 | 1951 | Strangers on a Train | | 8.2 | 128564 | 1994 | Forrest Gump | | 8.2 | 97414 | 2005 | Batman Begins | | 8.2 | 104569 | 1991 | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | | 8.2 | 18649 | 1954 | On the Waterfront | | 8.2 | 16240 | 1939 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | | 8.2 | 51662 | 1939 | The Wizard of Oz | | 8.2 | 123256 | 1995 | Braveheart | | 8.2 | 100529 | 2003 | Kill Bill: Vol. 1 | | 8.2 | 58991 | 2004 | The Incredibles | | 8.2 | 96362 | 1982 | Blade Runner | | 8.2 | 23828 | 1980 | The Elephant Man | | 8.2 | 67115 | 1987 | Full Metal Jacket | | 8.2 | 15854 | 1960 | The Apartment | | 8.2 | 14094 | 1946 | The Big Sleep | | 8.2 | 14985 | 1946 | Notorious | | 8.2 | 11295 | 1931 | City Lights | | 8.2 | 16974 | 1952 | High Noon | | 8.2 | 20215 | 1988 | Nuovo cinema Paradiso | | 8.2 | 88881 | 2001 | Donnie Darko | | 8.2 | 85567 | 1996 | Fargo | | 8.1 | 17257 | 1985 | Ran | | 8.2 | 70672 | 2004 | Crash | | 8.1 | 65782 | 2003 | Finding Nemo | | 8.1 | 113151 | 1983 | Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi | | 8.1 | 15524 | 1940 | The Great Dictator | | 8.1 | 29150 | 1984 | Once Upon a Time in America | | 8.1 | 19982 | 1967 | Cool Hand Luke | | 8.1 | 29393 | 1997 | Mononoke-hime | | 8.1 | 4971 | 1953 | Salaire de la peur, Le | | 8.1 | 128380 | 1999 | The Sixth Sense | | 8.1 | 71598 | 2005 | V for Vendetta | | 8.1 | 42862 | 1992 | Unforgiven | | 8.1 | 82116 | 1989 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade | | 8.1 | 74045 | 2004 | Kill Bill: Vol. 2 | | 8.1 | 28501 | 1959 | Ben-Hur | | 8.1 | 30306 | 1977 | Annie Hall | | 8.1 | 94218 | 1985 | Back to the Future | | 8.1 | 29692 | 2003 | Oldboy | | 8.1 | 66145 | 2000 | Wo hu cang long | | 8.1 | 10398 | 1956 | The Killing | | 8.1 | 46140 | 1979 | Life of Brian | | 8.1 | 13435 | 1961 | Yojimbo | | 8.1 | 70896 | 1987 | The Princess Bride | | 8.1 | 86551 | 1999 | The Green Mile | | 8 | 40031 | 1978 | The Deer Hunter | | 8 | 3949 | 1957 | Notti di Cabiria, Le | | 8 | 49695 | 1986 | Platoon | | 8 | 38832 | 1967 | The Graduate | | 8 | 11218 | 1934 | It Happened One Night | | 8 | 27831 | 1969 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | | 8 | 14890 | 1965 | Per qualche dollaro in più | | 8 | 128183 | 2000 | Gladiator | | 8 | 5469 | 1949 | Kind Hearts and Coronets | | 8 | 18306 | 1951 | The African Queen | | 8 | 22068 | 1982 | Gandhi | | 8 | 24537 | 2000 | Amores perros | | 8 | 55368 | 1999 | Toy Story 2 | | 8 | 10971 | 1948 | Ladri di biciclette | | 8 | 10525 | 1938 | The Adventures of Robin Hood | | 8 | 4339 | 1966 | Battaglia di Algeri, La | | 8 | 5198 | 1955 | Diaboliques, Les | | 8 | 8785 | 1943 | Shadow of a Doubt | | 8 | 12066 | 1963 | 8½ | | 8 | 44522 | 1998 | Lola rennt | | 8 | 4657 | 1945 | Brief Encounter | | 8 | 11097 | 1955 | The Night of the Hunter | | 8 | 14968 | 1969 | The Wild Bunch | | 8 | 42667 | 1986 | Stand by Me | | 8 | 14680 | 1974 | The Conversation | | 8 | 9327 | 1927 | The General | | 8 | 8405 | 1957 | Smultronstället | | 8 | 79214 | 1988 | Die Hard | | 8 | 10873 | 1950 | Harvey | | 8 | 13632 | 1933 | Duck Soup | | 8 | 22845 | 1975 | Dog Day Afternoon | | 8 | 12634 | 1922 | Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens | | 8 | 19894 | 1970 | Patton | | 8 | 28779 | 1989 | Glory | | 8 | 14235 | 1951 | The Day the Earth Stood Still | | 8 | 6339 | 1920 | Cabinet des Dr. Caligari., Das | | 7.9 | 39670 | 1939 | Gone with the Wind | | 7.9 | 39526 | 2002 | Ying xiong | | 7.9 | 23629 | 1960 | Spartacus | | 7.9 | 62267 | 1993 | Groundhog Day | | 7.9 | 39383 | 2004 | Finding Neverland | | 7.9 | 61792 | 1995 | Toy Story | | 7.9 | 3925 | 1946 | Belle et la bête, La | | 7.9 | 71725 | 1996 | Trainspotting | | 7.9 | 9082 | 1925 | The Gold Rush | | 7.9 | 14380 | 1940 | The Philadelphia Story | | 7.9 | 63539 | 1999 | Magnolia | | 7.9 | 48051 | 1973 | The Exorcist | | 7.9 | 27304 | 1983 | A Christmas Story | | 7.9 | 10956 | 1940 | The Grapes of Wrath | | 7.9 | 47185 | 2003 | Mystic River | | 7.9 | 73754 | 1998 | The Big Lebowski | | 7.9 | 90560 | 2001 | Shrek | | 7.9 | 25035 | 2005 | Cinderella Man | | 7.9 | 55120 | 2003 | Big Fish | | 7.9 | 19395 | 2004 | Before Sunset | | 7.9 | 83678 | 1995 | Twelve Monkeys | | 7.9 | 64508 | 1995 | Heat | | 7.9 | 17702 | 1933 | King Kong | | 7.9 | 5399 | 1961 | Judgment at Nuremberg | | 7.9 | 33275 | 1994 | Ed Wood | | 7.9 | 11628 | 1961 | The Hustler | | 7.9 | 18639 | 2005 | Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit | | 7.9 | 4284 | 1947 | Out of the Past | | 7.9 | 6894 | 1938 | The Lady Vanishes | | 7.9 | 8491 | 1946 | The Best Years of Our Lives | | 7.9 | 80411 | 1984 | The Terminator | | 7.9 | 35489 | 2005 | Walk the Line | | 7.9 | 7168 | 1935 | Bride of Frankenstein | | 7.9 | 68102 | 2000 | Snatch. | | 7.9 | 10110 | 1967 | In the Heat of the Night | | 7.9 | 6578 | 1972 | Sleuth | | 7.9 | 10025 | 1953 | Stalag 17 | | 7.9 | 12599 | 1988 | Hotaru no haka | | 7.9 | 2851 | 1955 | Du rififi chez les hommes | | 7.9 | 3138 | 1963 | Tengoku to jigoku | | 7.9 | 30458 | 1974 | Young Frankenstein | | 7.9 | 19629 | 2002 | Hable con ella | | 7.9 | 17937 | 1967 | Bonnie and Clyde | | 7.9 | 20784 | 1999 | The Straight Story | | 7.9 | 27961 | 1982 | The Thing | | 7.9 | 5523 | 1957 | Kumonosu jô | | 7.9 | 17362 | 1979 | Manhattan | | 7.9 | 9798 | 1959 | Quatre cents coups, Les | | 7.9 | 26699 | 1996 | Sling Blade | | 7.9 | 2500 | 1985 | Idi i smotri | | 7.9 | 19071 | 1968 | Rosemary's Baby | | 7.9 | 50785 | 1998 | Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels | | 7.9 | 9863 | 1931 | Frankenstein | | 7.9 | 7344 | 1957 | Witness for the Prosecution | | 7.9 | 5931 | 1959 | Anatomy of a Murder | | 7.9 | 15382 | 1944 | Arsenic and Old Lace | | 7.9 | 55431 | 2001 | Monsters, Inc. | | 7.9 | 51862 | 1983 | Scarface | | 7.9 | 4368 | 1945 | The Lost Weekend | | 7.9 | 9878 | 1930 | All Quiet on the Western Front | | 7.9 | 103979 | 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | | 7.9 | 13597 | 1953 | Roman Holiday | | 7.8 | 10291 | 1962 | The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance | | 7.8 | 14367 | 1956 | The Searchers | | 7.8 | 9651 | 1995 | Haine, La | | 7.8 | 17450 | 2006 | The Prestige | | 7.8 | 14644 | 1965 | Doctor Zhivago | | 7.8 | 10117 | 1987 | Himmel über Berlin, Der | | 7.8 | 12756 | 1938 | Bringing Up Baby | | 7.8 | 41725 | 1985 | Brazil | | 7.8 | 6755 | 1972 | Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes | | 7.8 | 2934 | 1943 | The Ox-Bow Incident | | 7.8 | 14248 | 1951 | A Streetcar Named Desire | | 7.8 | 28118 | 1968 | Planet of the Apes | | 7.8 | 3709 | 1969 | Z | | 7.8 | 13300 | 1971 | Harold and Maude | | 7.8 | 2485 | 1952 | Umberto D. | | 7.8 | 11329 | 1954 | Dial M for Murder | | 7.8 | 6930 | 1952 | Ikiru | | 7.8 | 5368 | 1960 | Inherit the Wind | | 7.8 | 18010 | 1976 | All the President's Men | | 7.8 | 10957 | 2001 | No Man's Land | | 7.8 | 11178 | 1975 | The Man Who Would Be King | | 7.8 | 9683 | 1940 | His Girl Friday | | 7.8 | 4079 | 1967 | In Cold Blood | Alfred Hitchcock movies | Rating | Votes | Year | Name | | ------ | ----- | ---- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | 6.6 | 3334 | 1976 | Family Plot | | 7.5 | 5771 | 1972 | Frenzy | | 6.5 | 3827 | 1966 | Torn Curtain | | 7.2 | 6659 | 1964 | Marnie | | 7.8 | 27315 | 1963 | The Birds | | 8.6 | 72264 | 1960 | Psycho | | 8.6 | 48162 | 1959 | North by Northwest | | 8.5 | 46135 | 1958 | Vertigo | | 7.4 | 3054 | 1956 | The Wrong Man | | 7.5 | 8243 | 1956 | The Man Who Knew Too Much | | 7.2 | 5430 | 1955 | The Trouble with Harry | | 7.5 | 8567 | 1955 | To Catch a Thief | | 8.7 | 56930 | 1954 | Rear Window | | 8 | 11338 | 1954 | Dial M for Murder | | 7 | 2411 | 1953 | I Confess | | 8.3 | 15361 | 1951 | Strangers on a Train | | 6.9 | 1874 | 1950 | Stage Fright | | 8 | 11769 | 1948 | Rope | | 6.3 | 1842 | 1947 | The Paradine Case | | 8.3 | 15004 | 1946 | Notorious | | 7.6 | 7240 | 1945 | Spellbound | | 8 | 22 | 1945 | Watchtower Over Tomorrow | | 7.8 | 4277 | 1944 | Lifeboat | | 6.7 | 262 | 1944 | Bon Voyage | | 5.8 | 252 | 1944 | Aventure malgache | | 8.2 | 8789 | 1943 | Shadow of a Doubt | | 7.3 | 3185 | 1942 | Saboteur | | 7.6 | 4717 | 1941 | Suspicion | | 6.5 | 1624 | 1941 | Mr. & Mrs. Smith | | 7.7 | 3035 | 1940 | Foreign Correspondent | | 8.4 | 16312 | 1940 | Rebecca | | 8.1 | 6899 | 1938 | The Lady Vanishes | | 7.1 | 1366 | 1937 | Young and Innocent | | 7.2 | 2142 | 1936 | Sabotage | | 6.7 | 1407 | 1936 | Secret Agent | | 8 | 11050 | 1935 | The 39 Steps | Cary Grant movies | Rating | Votes | Year | Name | | ------ | ----- | ---- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 6.5 | 694 | 1966 | Walk Don't Run | | 7.2 | 2190 | 1964 | Father Goose | | 8 | 13093 | 1963 | Charade | | 6.5 | 1581 | 1962 | That Touch of Mink | | 6.7 | 869 | 1960 | The Grass Is Greener | | 7.2 | 2454 | 1959 | Operation Petticoat | | 8.6 | 48184 | 1959 | North by Northwest | | 6.5 | 1521 | 1958 | Houseboat | | 6.8 | 1590 | 1958 | Indiscreet | | 5.5 | 328 | 1957 | Kiss Them for Me | | 5.3 | 501 | 1957 | The Pride and the Passion | | 7.2 | 4655 | 1957 | An Affair to Remember | | 7.5 | 8567 | 1955 | To Catch a Thief | | 5.5 | 303 | 1953 | Dream Wife | | 7.1 | 2054 | 1952 | Monkey Business | | 6.3 | 214 | 1952 | Room for One More | | 7.4 | 1052 | 1951 | People Will Talk | | 6.3 | 314 | 1950 | Crisis | | 6.9 | 1635 | 1949 | I Was a Male War Bride | | 6 | 411 | 1948 | Every Girl Should Be Married | | 7.2 | 2178 | 1948 | Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House | | 7.5 | 2671 | 1947 | The Bishop's Wife | | 7.2 | 1387 | 1947 | The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer | | 8.3 | 15004 | 1946 | Notorious | | 6.1 | 504 | 1946 | Night and Day | | 6.3 | 314 | 1944 | None But the Lonely Heart | | 8 | 15390 | 1944 | Arsenic and Old Lace | | 5.8 | 112 | 1944 | Once Upon a Time | | 7.2 | 973 | 1943 | Destination Tokyo | | 7.2 | 453 | 1943 | Mr. Lucky | | 6.3 | 403 | 1942 | Once Upon a Honeymoon | | 7.7 | 1042 | 1942 | The Talk of the Town | | 7.6 | 4717 | 1941 | Suspicion | | 7 | 1126 | 1941 | Penny Serenade | | 8.1 | 14383 | 1940 | The Philadelphia Story | | 6.2 | 105 | 1940 | The Howards of Virginia | | 7.2 | 1685 | 1940 | My Favorite Wife | | 8 | 9692 | 1940 | His Girl Friday | | 6.9 | 446 | 1939 | In Name Only | | 7.5 | 1828 | 1939 | Only Angels Have Wings | | 7.6 | 2972 | 1939 | Gunga Din | | 7.8 | 2243 | 1938 | Holiday | | 8 | 12761 | 1938 | Bringing Up Baby | | 7.9 | 2719 | 1937 | The Awful Truth | | 6.6 | 181 | 1937 | The Toast of New York | | 7.4 | 1354 | 1937 | Topper | | 5.6 | 56 | 1937 | When You're in Love | | 5.9 | 39 | 1936 | Wedding Present | | 6.1 | 313 | 1936 | The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss | | 6.3 | 218 | 1936 | Suzy | | 6.2 | 49 | 1936 | Big Brown Eyes | | 6.1 | 597 | 1935 | Sylvia Scarlett | | 4.9 | 39 | 1935 | The Last Outpost | | 6.1 | 33 | 1935 | Wings in the Dark | | 6.4 | 23 | 1935 | Enter Madame | | 4.9 | 25 | 1934 | Ladies Should Listen | | 5.4 | 44 | 1934 | Kiss and Make-Up | | 6.1 | 124 | 1934 | Born to Be Bad | | 6.5 | 37 | 1934 | Thirty Day Princess | | 6.4 | 301 | 1933 | Alice in Wonderland | | 7.1 | 424 | 1933 | I'm No Angel | | 5.3 | 26 | 1933 | Gambling Ship | | 7 | 105 | 1933 | The Eagle and the Hawk | | 5.9 | 34 | 1933 | The Woman Accused | | 6.7 | 762 | 1933 | She Done Him Wrong | | 6.3 | 34 | 1932 | Madame Butterfly | | 6.2 | 30 | 1932 | Hot Saturday | | 7.2 | 618 | 1932 | Blonde Venus | | 5.6 | 54 | 1932 | Devil and the Deep | | 5.9 | 37 | 1932 | Merrily We Go to Hell | | 5.2 | 52 | 1932 | Singapore Sue | | 6.3 | 20 | 1932 | Sinners in the Sun | | 6.9 | 37 | 1932 | This Is the Night | Audrey Hepburn movies | Rating | Votes | Year | Name | | ------ | ----- | ---- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | | 6.4 | 2457 | 1976 | Robin and Marian | | 7.8 | 4936 | 1967 | Wait Until Dark | | 7.4 | 1878 | 1967 | Two for the Road | | 7.3 | 2495 | 1966 | How to Steal a Million | | 7.8 | 16442 | 1964 | My Fair Lady | | 5.8 | 970 | 1964 | Paris - When It Sizzles | | 8 | 13093 | 1963 | Charade | | 7.4 | 1768 | 1961 | The Children's Hour | | 7.7 | 17252 | 1961 | Breakfast at Tiffany's | | 6.8 | 974 | 1960 | The Unforgiven | | 7.5 | 1716 | 1959 | The Nun's Story | | 5.1 | 375 | 1959 | Green Mansions | | 7.3 | 1658 | 1957 | Love in the Afternoon | | 7 | 2617 | 1957 | Funny Face | | 6.6 | 1231 | 1955 | War and Peace | | 7.7 | 8236 | 1954 | Sabrina | | 8 | 13601 | 1953 | Roman Holiday | | 6.4 | 49 | 1952 | The Secret People | | 5.2 | 32 | 1951 | Nous irons à Monte Carlo | | 5.1 | 26 | 1951 | Young Wives' Tale | | 7.9 | 2602 | 1951 | The Lavender Hill Mob | | 7 | 147 | 1951 | Laughter in Paradise | | 5.4 | 20 | 1951 | One Wild Oat | | 4.7 | 20 | 1951 | Monte Carlo Baby | Al Pacino movies | Rating | Votes | Year | Name | | ------ | ------ | ---- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | | 6.1 | 6358 | 2005 | Two for the Money | | 7.2 | 5368 | 2004 | The Merchant of Venice | | 6.5 | 19214 | 2003 | The Recruit | | 6.2 | 11123 | 2002 | S1m0ne | | 7.2 | 31120 | 2002 | Insomnia | | 7.6 | 102 | 2000 | Chinese Coffee | | 6.4 | 26493 | 1999 | Any Given Sunday | | 7.9 | 39006 | 1999 | The Insider | | 7.1 | 37111 | 1997 | The Devil's Advocate | | 7.6 | 29318 | 1997 | Donnie Brasco | | 6.1 | 5750 | 1996 | City Hall | | 8 | 64528 | 1995 | Heat | | 6.1 | 713 | 1995 | Two Bits | | 7.6 | 20888 | 1993 | Carlito's Way | | 7.5 | 23352 | 1992 | Scent of a Woman | | 7.8 | 15873 | 1992 | Glengarry Glen Ross | | 6.3 | 5459 | 1991 | Frankie and Johnny | | 7.4 | 35075 | 1990 | The Godfather: Part III | | 5.7 | 13293 | 1990 | Dick Tracy | | 7.9 | 68 | 1990 | The Local Stigmatic | | 6.6 | 7199 | 1989 | Sea of Love | | 4.5 | 1406 | 1985 | Revolution | | 8 | 51894 | 1983 | Scarface | | 5.7 | 1292 | 1982 | Author! Author! | | 5.6 | 1938 | 1980 | Cruising | | 7.1 | 4040 | 1979 | ...And Justice for All | | 8.1 | 22859 | 1975 | Dog Day Afternoon | | 9 | 104479 | 1974 | The Godfather: Part II | | 7.6 | 9924 | 1973 | Serpico | | 7 | 1718 | 1973 | Scarecrow | | 9.1 | 184538 | 1972 | The Godfather | | 6.9 | 1620 | 1971 | The Panic in Needle Park | | 6.6 | 180 | 1969 | Me, Natalie | Ingrid Bergman movies | Rating | Votes | Year | Name | | ------ | ----- | ---- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 8 | 2005 | 1978 | Höstsonaten | | 7.2 | 5902 | 1974 | Murder on the Orient Express | | 6.7 | 1499 | 1969 | Cactus Flower | | 6.8 | 1590 | 1958 | Indiscreet | | 7.1 | 1492 | 1956 | Anastasia | | 6.2 | 402 | 1948 | Joan of Arc | | 8.3 | 15004 | 1946 | Notorious | | 7.4 | 1364 | 1945 | The Bells of St. Mary's | | 6.2 | 222 | 1945 | Saratoga Trunk | | 7.6 | 7240 | 1945 | Spellbound | | 7.8 | 3865 | 1944 | Gaslight | | 7.1 | 1535 | 1943 | For Whom the Bell Tolls | | 8.8 | 89653 | 1942 | Casablanca | | 6.7 | 1265 | 1941 | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Howard Hawks movies | Rating | Votes | Year | Name | | ------ | ----- | ---- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 6.5 | 1501 | 1970 | Rio Lobo | | 7.5 | 3466 | 1966 | El Dorado | | 5.5 | 169 | 1965 | Red Line 7000 | | 6.9 | 853 | 1964 | Man's Favorite Sport? | | 7.2 | 2177 | 1962 | Hatari! | | 7.9 | 9973 | 1959 | Rio Bravo | | 6.4 | 612 | 1955 | Land of the Pharaohs | | 7.1 | 3676 | 1953 | Gentlemen Prefer Blondes | | 7.2 | 340 | 1952 | O. Henry's Full House | | 7.1 | 2054 | 1952 | Monkey Business | | 7.1 | 606 | 1952 | The Big Sky | | 7.4 | 3926 | 1951 | The Thing from Another World | | 6.9 | 1635 | 1949 | I Was a Male War Bride | | 7.1 | 427 | 1948 | A Song Is Born | | 7.9 | 5541 | 1948 | Red River | | 8.3 | 14099 | 1946 | The Big Sleep | | 8.1 | 5937 | 1944 | To Have and Have Not | | 6.7 | 100 | 1943 | Corvette K-225 | | 5.5 | 678 | 1943 | The Outlaw | | 7.1 | 439 | 1943 | Air Force | | 7.8 | 1604 | 1941 | Ball of Fire | | 8.1 | 3244 | 1941 | Sergeant York | | 8 | 9692 | 1940 | His Girl Friday | | 7.5 | 1828 | 1939 | Only Angels Have Wings | | 8 | 12761 | 1938 | Bringing Up Baby | | 6.9 | 271 | 1936 | Come and Get It | | 6.9 | 144 | 1936 | Ceiling Zero | | 6.7 | 246 | 1935 | Barbary Coast | | 7.9 | 711 | 1934 | Twentieth Century | | 6.6 | 194 | 1934 | Viva Villa! | | 6.5 | 139 | 1933 | The Prizefighter and the Lady | | 6.1 | 160 | 1933 | Today We Live | | 6.4 | 142 | 1932 | Tiger Shark | | 6.3 | 158 | 1932 | The Crowd Roars | | 7.9 | 3775 | 1932 | Scarface | Frank Capra movies | Rating | Votes | Year | Name | | ------ | ----- | ---- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 7.2 | 1105 | 1961 | Pocketful of Miracles | | 6.1 | 447 | 1959 | A Hole in the Head | | 5.6 | 229 | 1951 | Here Comes the Groom | | 5.7 | 112 | 1950 | Riding High | | 7.4 | 602 | 1948 | State of the Union | | 8.6 | 54216 | 1946 | It's a Wonderful Life | | 8 | 15390 | 1944 | Arsenic and Old Lace | | 7.5 | 2493 | 1941 | Meet John Doe | | 8.3 | 16247 | 1939 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | | 7.9 | 4303 | 1938 | You Can't Take It with You | | 7.7 | 2914 | 1937 | Lost Horizon | | 7.9 | 3355 | 1936 | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | | 6.2 | 187 | 1934 | Broadway Bill | | 8.2 | 11222 | 1934 | It Happened One Night | | 7.5 | 542 | 1933 | Lady for a Day | | 7.2 | 348 | 1933 | The Bitter Tea of General Yen | | 7.3 | 164 | 1932 | American Madness | | 6.4 | 85 | 1932 | Forbidden | | 6.8 | 456 | 1931 | Platinum Blonde | | 7.2 | 234 | 1931 | The Miracle Woman | Disney movies | Rating | Votes | Year | Name | | ------ | ----- | ---- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | \- | \- | 1937 | Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs | | \- | \- | 1940 | Pinocchio | | \- | \- | 1940 | Fantasia | | \- | \- | 1941 | The Reluctant Dragon | | \- | \- | 1941 | Dumbo | | \- | \- | 1942 | Bambi | | \- | \- | 1943 | Saludos Amigos | | \- | \- | 1943 | Victory Through Air Power | | \- | \- | 1945 | The Three Caballeros | | \- | \- | 1946 | Make Mine Music | | \- | \- | 1946 | Song Of The South | | \- | \- | 1947 | Fun & Fancy Free | | \- | \- | 1948 | Melody Time | | \- | \- | 1949 | So Dear To My Heart | | \- | \- | 1949 | The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mister Toad | | \- | \- | 1950 | Cinderella | | \- | \- | 1951 | Alice In Wonderland | | \- | \- | 1953 | Peter Pan | | \- | \- | 1955 | Lady And The Tramp | | \- | \- | 1959 | Sleeping Beauty | | \- | \- | 1961 | One Hundred And One Dalmatians | | \- | \- | 1963 | The Sword In The Stone | | \- | \- | 1964 | Mary Poppins | | \- | \- | 1967 | The Jungle Book | | \- | \- | 1970 | The Aristocats | | \- | \- | 1971 | Bedknobs And Broomsticks | | \- | \- | 1973 | Robin Hood | | \- | \- | 1977 | The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh | | \- | \- | 1977 | The Rescuers | | \- | \- | 1977 | Pete's Dragon | | \- | \- | 1981 | The Fox And The Hound | | \- | \- | 1985 | Return To Oz | | \- | \- | 1985 | The Black Cauldron | | \- | \- | 1986 | The Great Mouse Detective | | \- | \- | 1988 | Oliver & Company | | \- | \- | 1989 | The Little Mermaid | | \- | \- | 1990 | DuckTales: The Movie (Treasure Of The Lost Lamp) | | \- | \- | 1990 | The Rescuers Down Under | | \- | \- | 1991 | Beauty And The Beast | | \- | \- | 1992 | Aladdin | | \- | \- | 1994 | The Lion King | | \- | \- | 1995 | A Goofy Movie | | \- | \- | 1995 | Pocahontas | | \- | \- | 1996 | James And The Giant Peach | | \- | \- | 1996 | The Hunchback Of Notre Dame | | \- | \- | 1997 | Hercules | | \- | \- | 1998 | Mulan | | \- | \- | 1999 | Doug's 1st Movie | | \- | \- | 1999 | Tarzan | | \- | \- | 1999 | Fantasia 2000 | | \- | \- | 2000 | The Tigger Movie | | \- | \- | 2000 | Dinosaur | | \- | \- | 2000 | The Emperor's New Groove | | \- | \- | 2001 | Recess: School's Out | | \- | \- | 2001 | Atlantis: The Lost Empire | | \- | \- | 2002 | Return To Never Land | | \- | \- | 2002 | Lilo & Stitch | | \- | \- | 2002 | Treasure Planet | | \- | \- | 2003 | The Jungle Book 2 | | \- | \- | 2003 | Piglet's BIG Movie | | \- | \- | 2003 | Brother Bear | | \- | \- | 2004 | Teacher's Pet | | \- | \- | 2004 | Home On The Range | | \- | \- | 2005 | Pooh's Heffalump Movie | | \- | \- | 2005 | Chicken Little | | \- | \- | 2005 | The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe | | \- | \- | 2005 | Fraidy Cat | | \- | \- | 2006 | The Wild | | \- | \- | 2007 | Meet The Robinsons | | \- | \- | 2007 | Enchanted | | \- | \- | 2007 | A Christmas Carol | Pixar movies | Rating | Votes | Year | Name | | ------ | ----- | ---- | -------------------- | | \- | \- | 1995 | Toy Story | | \- | \- | 1998 | A Bug's Life | | \- | \- | 1999 | Toy Story 2 | | \- | \- | 2001 | Monsters, Inc. | | \- | \- | 2003 | Finding Nemo | | \- | \- | 2004 | The Incredibles | | \- | \- | 2005 | A Bug's Life II | | \- | \- | 2006 | Cars | | \- | \- | 2007 | Ratatouille | | \- | \- | 2007 | Ray Gun | Other movies to see | Rating | Votes | Year | Name | | ------ | ----- | ---- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | 7.8 | 9004 | 1962 | The Longest Day | | 7.8 | 33786 | 1991 | Beauty and the Beast | | 7.8 | 48940 | 2001 | The Others | | 7.8 | 38293 | 1990 | Dances with Wolves | | 7.7 | 8054 | 2006 | The Illusionist | | 7.6 | 30627 | 1989 | When Harry Met Sally... | | 7.5 | 16445 | 2003 | Seabiscuit | | 7.4 | 25291 | 1997 | Grosse Pointe Blank | | 7.1 | 16656 | 2003 | Runaway Jury | | 7 | 4929 | 1980 | Dressed to Kill | | 7 | 5106 | 1981 | Blow Out | | 7 | 29891 | 1998 | Ronin | | 6.8 | 6526 | 1989 | Casualties of War | | 6.6 | 9335 | 1987 | Roxanne | | 6.6 | 796 | 1963 | The Prize | | 6.5 | 534 | 1995 | Above Suspicion | | 6.1 | 632 | 1996 | Infinity | Comments Raja 28 Feb 2007 1:14 am: This is cool stuff...Hats Off

Wishlist for movies


I explore Joel Spolsky’s argument that productivity requires solitude. It takes fifteen minutes to enter a state of deep concentration, but only a second to lose it through interruptions, making a quiet workspace essential.

Joel Spolsky on why you need to be alone to be productive. You build up concentration for 15 minutes, and you lose it in a second when interrupted.

You need to be alone to be productive


While working at Honda R&D in Japan, I had to explain that being vegetarian meant no fish or chicken. The chef eventually realized I "only eat plants," serving me a simple meal of rice, broccoli, and pepper.

UTSUNOMIYA, Japan, Dec 1998. I was on a project with Honda R&D at Utsunomiya, Japan. And I'm vegetarian. The next day, Yoshioka-san -- our counterpart at Honda -- took us to the canteen and introduced me to the chef. Knowing that "vegetarian" in Japan includes eating fish and birds, I took the chef aside. "I'm vegetarian," I emphasised. "Hai. Vegetarian." "I don't eat fish." "Ah, so. No fish." "I don't eat chicken. No birds." "Ah, so. No chicken." Pause. He looked puzzled. Just to be sure, I added, "I'm vegetarian." He thought for a long while, and then said, "So, you eat only plants?" P.S. I was finally served rice with brocolli. I ate it with pepper. Comments Theanand 4 Dec 2006 5:46 pm: interesting, myself anand from cochin, india, doin my grads here. saw ur site while searching for anand. . . .keep rocking, all the best Anand Subramanian 4 Dec 2006 5:46 pm: nice site. . . Pradeep 2 Dec 2006 12:00 pm: Ha :)\ \ I had a similar experience in China and was offered lettuce leaves in vinegar.. I then remembered scolding my mom 2 months back on how the vathha kuzhambu was not up to the mark. dhinakar 2 Dec 2006 12:00 pm: Niyalin Arumai Veyilil Teriyum...

You only eat plants


I highlight research from Columbia University suggesting that in the long run, we often regret missed opportunities for pleasure and excessive diligence. Over time, people tend to regret their virtues more than their vices or indulgences.

In the long run, people tend to regret having missed out on opportunities for pleasure -- and they wish they hadn't been so diligent about working. Based on research at Columbia University. Clive has a nice article about it titled In the long run, we regret virtue more than vice. Comments joe bosco 3 Jul 2006 1:12 am: finally - some math that buttress my arguments. enjoy maaadi :) - indulge in sinful pleasures

You will regret virtue more than vice


I've learned that photography is about vision, not gear. Ken Rockwell explains that any camera can record a scene, but you must develop the ability to see and compose to create truly great images.

Your camera does not matter. "All of them can record what you are seeing. But, you have to SEE."

Your camera does not matter


I highlight seven unconventional methods to enhance learning, such as involving multiple senses and teaching concepts to others. These techniques focus on improving memory retention and building a deeper understanding of new information.

7 little known ways to improve learning. Comments Rishi 17 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: how can i read them?

7 little known ways to improve learning


I share my reviews of seven books I read during a busy blogging break, including the final Harry Potter, Frank Miller’s graphic novels, and John Resig’s Pro JavaScript Techniques, all while balancing a demanding work schedule.

Between July 17th and August 22nd, I saw 57 movies and read 7 books. There were Saturdays when I watched four movies back-to-back. (I tried five. Couldn't stay awake.) Amidst this, I also cooked, cleaned, shopped... and went to office. (Oh yes, I was working 10 hours a day.) And managed to build some interesting sites which I'll release in a while. But first, let me share the books with you. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling How to be Good by Nick Hornby The Runaway Jury by John Grisham Batman Year One by Frank Miller) The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller) Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud Pro Javascript Techniques by John Resig Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I wasn't planning to buy it. I figured I'd just wait for the soft copy. On 21st July at 8am, I went shopping to the local Sainsbury's to get groceries for my pre-movie cooking. I didn't know that was the release date. And there it was. In a huge stack. 50% discount. Should I? Shouldn't I? After finishing the rest of my shopping, and having deeply analysed the cost-benefit and ROI, I figured: if I didn't buy it now, someone else might tell me the answers! Was Snape evil? I couldn't believe that. Not after Dumbledore's implicit trust. Besides, I re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and if Dumbledore was dismissing Harry's explicit warnings about Snape, he had to know something more. Anyway, what was the significance of Dumbledore's last words? "Severus... please..." Please what? Dumbledore begging for death seemed more likely than Dumbledore begging for life. I had to know. Who dies? Voldemort, of course. But who else? It couldn't be Harry, unless J K Rowling was looking to make herself one of the most hated novelists. Yet, it seems so... possible. Harry dying to take Voldemort out. Naah, can't be. Not Ron or Hermione either. Same reason. One of the other Weasleys? Maybe. Plenty of them anyway. Hopefully Percy. Hargrid? Possible. Lupin? The last of Harry's father's friends? And all the minor questions: What's the significance of Harry's eyes? What does Wormtail do to help Harry? What's the significance of Voldemort having used Harry's blood to resurrect himself? etc. etc. So I bought it. But didn't start reading. I knew that if I picked it up, I wouldn't put it down. It was time to cook. And watch movies. By 4:00pm, after three movies, I couldn't stand it any more. So I picked it up. Read until 2:00am. Picked it up again on Sunday at 9:00am, and starved until 11:00am until I finished it. Whew! What a book. Definitely the raciest of the lot. My earlier favourite in the series was The Prisoner of Azkaban, though The Half-Blood Prince came close. But this one beats them all. Resolves most of the mysteries till date, too. As Stephen King says in his review of Harry Potter, but by the time she penned the final line of Deathly Hallows, she had become one of the finer stylists in her native country. How to be Good And then there was Nick Hornby's book. I'd seen a couple of his movies: About a Boy and High Fidelity. They were interesting, and I'd heard the books were good. Figured I'd pick one up. And it was hilarious! How to be Good is the funniest book I've read since Five Point Someone and The Inscrutable Americans. Most of my colleagues kept wondering what I was laughing out so loudly about. This is the story. The author is a doctor and a good wife. "Gooder" than her husband, certainly, and that makes her feel good. Until he has suddently becomes GOOD. Truly good. Saint-like. And then she can't stand him any more. The story is in first person, so you can see her thoughts almost verbatim. (See thoughts verbatim? Well, whatever the phrase is.) The Runaway Jury I had just seen the movie Runaway Jury, so I had to re-read it immediately. The movie was surprisingly good, though. Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, John Cusack and Rachel Weisz. Many changes from the book, but didn't detract from the experience. Batman Year One, The Dark Knight Returns and Understanding Comics I saw 300. WOW! Brilliant. One of the greatest visual experiences ever. Possibly better than V for Vendetta and certainly better than Sin City -- both of which I thought had incredible visuals. The colours, the texture, the contrast, the surrealism -- whew! That's when it hit me. Three of the best movies I've seen recently were based on graphic novels (comics). Two by Frank Miller). Maybe I should explore this a little more. I got myself Batman Year One -- and that's when I realised where Batman Begins got its inspiration from. The graphics were pretty old style, but the story, incredible. Then I picked up The Dark Knight Returns. Now THAT is phenomenal graphics. And what a story! Christopher Nolan's next movie is slated to be The Dark Knight. Really looking forward to that. With all this, I ended up reading a bunch of new Superman comics as well (but they were lousy, so I won't mention anything), and in the meanwhile, heard about Scott McCloud's comic book on comics -- Understanding Comics. Like I said, it's a comic book, but non-fiction. It's about the history and art of comics. Very nice reading, and quite insightful too. I think every visual designer should take a look at it. Pro Javascript Techniques I'd been reading up a lot of Javascript recently -- learning mostly from Douglas Crockford, Peter Paul-Koch, Dean Edwards, and John Resig. So when I realised John had a book, I had to read it. Douglas Crockford recommends JavaScript: The Definitive Guide (5th Edition) as the least bad among many bad books. I read it. Sorry, but it was quite a bore. Pro Javascript Techniques on the other hand, is gripping. Dives right into modern techniques, writing style, and is filled with practical advice. How wonderful. So anyway, that's what my month's been like. Well worth the break from blogging, I think. (And I haven't even told you about the movies or sites yet! Well, soon.) Comments Sachin Gopalakrishnan 24 Aug 2007 12:00 pm: And i thought this was not exactly a blog!!! Vinu Yamunan 24 Aug 2007 12:00 pm: Dude, Where''d you have the energy for all that? Seeing that you cooked, cleaned AND shopped, my guess is that the wife was not in town - true/false? Anyways, good to see you on the blogosphere. Love your music as well as the C&H search pages. Am surprised you have not commented on the ''Asap Utilities Add-in" in your excel related postings... check it out if you haven''t already! later Vinu Karthik A 24 Aug 2007 12:00 pm: I felt so too about the last Harry Potter. Like Vinu said, you got the rights to 5 movies after cooking and cleaning on a weekend since your wife''s not in town..... sathish 24 Aug 2007 12:00 pm: Anand, a nice set of books.. especially the graphic novels.. I still do not understand the term graphic novel that much.. but, love comics anyway.... I have been reading Osama Tezuka''s Buddha series - Every time, I see The Dark Knight, my hands itch; but, they are so damn costly in India (atleast the hardback is).. And if you are interested in fantasy - I would suggest Steven Erikson''s -- A Tale of Malazan The book of Fallen I have been reading them with greater ferocity than Tolkien and George R R Martin..Do give it a shot if you are in a mood for fantasy - but, be prepared for long long hours of endless reading..

A busy break from blogging


I track over 50 feeds in Google Reader to read more while remembering less. I use search result RSS feeds for videos and photos and Page2RSS to monitor sites that don't provide native feed support.

I've stopped visiting websites. No, really. There's only one website I visit these days. Google Reader. Google Reader screenshot Google Reader is a feed reader. If you want to just catch up on the new stuff on a site, you can add the site to Google Reader. Anything new that is published on the site appears in Google Reader. Right now, I've subscribed to over 50 feeds. There's no way I can remember to visit 50 sites -- so I'm actually able to read more and miss less. In a sense, that's the essence of using feeds to read stuff: remember less, read more and miss less. If I ever find an interesting site, I just add it to Google Reader and forget about it. But it goes beyond that. You can subscribe to search results. Videos, for examples. Subscribe to a search for google engedu on Google Video. Any new TechTalk at Google, you get it in your Reader. (The talks are fabulous by the way.) Or search for hindi movies. Photos? Track new photos of the Indian cricket team on Flickr. Movies? Get an update of the latest movie torrents from mininova or torrentspy. Or just get updates on American Gangster DVDRip. Presentations? Track anything on Javascript or consulting from SlideShare. Documents? Find new eBooks on Scribd. Not all pages offer a feed. But Page2Rss offers a reasonable solution. It converts pretty much any page into a feed. It's gotten to the point where anything I know I want to read, I put it on Google Reader. The rest of the Internet is when I don't know what I want to read. Comments Jayan 16 Dec 2007 12:00 pm: Same here. I ve been using it for over 2 months now. I subscribe to over 200 feeds. This reader is coool.. - (http://ekalayva.wordpress.com) Simon32 16 Dec 2007 12:00 pm: I agree, RSS is great! Btw, you might also want to checkout Feedity - www.feedity.com for creating free custom RSS feeds.

Advanced Google Reader


I shared a classic internet meme mashup featuring Calvin and Hobbes combined with the "All your base are belong to us" catchphrase from Zero Wing, highlighting a humorous cross-over between comic strips and early gaming culture.

Calvin and Hobbes: All Your Base (If you don't get it, see what All your base are belong to us means) via This is my pizza. Comments Grant Carpenterk 17 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: LOL, that comic was made of pure awesome! Well done on your adaptation! Grand Carp 1 Oct 2008 12:24 pm: Awesome (no I'm not Grant Capenterk, I'm making fun of his name) Carpe Grand 1 Oct 2008 5:31 pm: May I join in the fun? S Anand 1 Oct 2008 5:32 pm: Hmm... comments are going a bit off-topic here...

All Your Base Are Belong To Us


Check out these videos featuring incredible physics experiments. They offer a visual way to understand physical laws through engaging demonstrations, making complex scientific principles accessible and entertaining to watch.

Videos of amazing physics experiments.

Amazing physics experiments


I recount a tense encounter with French police while visiting Montmartre in 2000. Lacking a common language and facing a passport check, my friends and I were detained near the cable car before being abruptly released to continue our trip.

In November 2000, I visited Paris one weekend. Two classmates, Anand Binani and Ram Venkat were studying there, and we roamed around the city. At around 6:00pm, we went over to Montmartre. It's up a hill, and there's a cable car that takes you up there. We went all the way up, and got out when a lady behind us asked: "Is that yours? We'd left something behind. Went back to retrieve it. The car was almost leaving for it's return journey. We just got out in time... ... to be confronted by the French Police. Now, this is a scary thing. Foreign country. I don't speak a word of French. And I was dressed like a thug. The policemen didn't say a word. One of them just made us stand right a the corner of the entrance to the cable car -- politely at first, and then physically, when he realised we didn't understand a word of French. Anand Binani Ram Venkat at Montmartre near the cable car where we were caught by police Now he goes on the radio. He hasn't said a word to us yet that we could understand. After a minute, he comes back, asking for our passports. I hand mine over. So does Anand Binani. Ram Venkat doesn't have his passport on him. Shit! While he was panicking and I was rooted to the spot and Anand Binani was trying to explain something to the policeman, he walked away with our two passports. Busy talking on the radio. Relaying the names on our passports. Worried that they were both "Anand"s. (We could here that repeated many times.) Something about wearing a jacket. (We were all wearing jackets.) Five minutes pass. In the meantime, we had various theories. Three terrorists had illegally entered the country and were going to blow up Montmartre, and we looked like them. Or, an Asian student group was going to murder a senior polician. Or maybe we just looked like the mug-shots on their Top 10 Most Wanted list and just about like someone who'd end up on the internet on websites like . In my case, I didn't even have a French student visa. Just a standard Schengen tourist visa, with a UK student visa. I wasn't even studying in the country. If I were deported, would he put me back in the UK or in India? Which embassy would I have to speak to if he arrested me? Five minutes later, he comes back, hands us our passports, and walks off. Just like that. No goodbye. No "You're free to go". No "Don't ever do that again". Just walks off. We just stood there for a couple of minutes, got our breaths back, promised never to venture without a passport looking like thugs, took a snap as evidence, and went on inside the Montmartre chapel, followed by a far more educative visit to Pigale. Sex shop at Pigale. Paris Comments anand binani 11 Jan 2007 5:11 pm: Amazing stuff ! brought back memories of great small times we had. Hope you are doing great! Do let me know your email id and your whereabouts somnath 18 May 2007 8:47 am: anand was it you looking like a thug or ram : ). How is the photo at the bottom connected with the whole story. Even if ram and binani have been oogling over there french police should be least bothered ...

Arrested in Paris


I shared a YouTube video of a fan-made Calvin and Hobbes animation produced by Dadomani. This short clip brings Bill Watterson’s iconic comic strip characters to life, experimenting with how the classic artwork translates into a moving format.

A Calvin and Hobbes cartoon , drawn by Dadomani . Comments kasi 28 May 2007 1:31 pm: Hi Anand, U must check this http://david-heron.me.uk/blog/2007/04/08/virtual-barbershop with ur headphone vol high.. wid 3d music, its really kewl :) n chk the more links given there Docsound 29 May 2009 8:45 pm: Calvin and Hobbes cartoon is not drawned by dadomani!

Calvin and Hobbes animated


I've rounded up my favorite Calvin and Hobbes strips where Dad trolls Calvin with fake science. These classic comics explain why the world was once black and white and how bridge weight limits are "really" determined.

Calvin and Hobbes Dad explains science My second most favourite series from Calvin and Hobbes, where Dad teaches Calvin the wonders of science. How do they know the load limit on bridges Dad? They drive bigger and bigger trucks over the bridge until it breaks. Then they weigh the last truck and rebuild the bridge. Oh. I should've guessed. Dear, if you don't know the answer. Just tell him! Why does the sky turn red as the sun sets? That's all the oxygen in the atmosphere catching fire. Where does the sun go when it sets? The sun sets in the west. In Arizona actually, near flagstaff. Oh. That's why the rocks there are so red. Don't the people get burned up? No, the sun goes out as it sets. That's why it's dark at night. Doesn't the sun crush the whole state when it lands? Ha ha, of course not. Hold a quarter up. See, the sun's just about the same size. I thought I read that the sun was really big. You can't believe everything you read, I'm afraid. So how does the sun rise in the east if it lands in Arizona each night? Well, time for bed. I hope someday I'm as smart as Dad is. Why, what did he tell you now? Dad, will you explain the theory of relativity to me? I don't understand why time goes slower at great speed. It's because you keep changing time zones. See, if you fly to California, you gain three hours on a five-hour flight, right? So if you go at the speed of light, you gain MORE time, because it doesn't take as long to get there. Of course, the theory of relativity works only if you're going west. Gee, that's not what Mom said at ALL! She must be totally off her rocker. Well, we men are better at abstract reasoning. Go tell her that. How do bank machines work, Dad? Well, let's say you wwant 25 dollars. You punch in the amount... and behind the machine, there's a guy with a printing press who makes the money and sticks it out this slot. Sort of like the huy who lives up in our garage and opens the door? Exactly. Why does ice float? Because it's cold. Ice wants to get warm, so it goes on top of liquids in order to be nearer to the sun. Is that true? Look it up and find out. I should just look stuff up in the first place. You can learn a lot, talking to me. Wow, honey, you're missing a beautiful sunset out here. I'll count to 10, and then... POW! Dad, how come old photographs are always black and white? Didn't they have color film back then? Sure they did. In fact, those old photographs ARE in color. It's just that the WORLD was black and white then. Really? Yep. The world didn't turn color until sometime in the 1930s, and it was pretty grainy color for a while, too. That's really weird. Well, truth is stranger than fiction. But then why are old PAINTINGS in color?! If the world was black and white, wouldn't artists have painted it that way? Not necessarily. A lot of great artists were insane. But... but how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn't their paints have been shades of gray back then? Of course, but they turned colors like everything else did in the '30s. So why didn't old black and white photos turn color too? Because they were color pictures of black and white, remember? The world is a complicated place, Hobbes. Whenever it seems that way, I take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner. Comments Joe 24 Oct 2008 5:56 am: Awesome!\ \ I always love this strip! Elizabeth 21 Dec 2008 12:51 pm: Dad's know EVERYTHING. XD Josh 23 Feb 2009 11:26 pm: ha ha - I love this strip. he should return!! Frankie 17 Jun 2009 5:07 pm: Absolutely true! And I remember when you actually carried out the last frame of comic strip #3. Now...let's go build some crazy snowmen! domenico 23 Jul 2009 3:16 am: I have always been a fan of this strip... domenico 23 Jul 2009 3:17 am: Sounds like me explaining stuff to my kids when they were growing up...I don't know how they got so screwed up... RaGe 13 Aug 2009 2:50 pm: Got the one about black and white photos and the world being black and white? R Nethra 1 Sep 2009 10:42 am: Awesome! The Calvin and Hobbes search Takedown | s-anand.net 21 May 2010 11:56 am (pingback): [...] able to do a lot of cool stuff with this, like statistically improbable phrases and some amusing posts as [...] Blake 4 Aug 2010 4:41 pm: You're missing the one time Dad gets it right. He explains a fact about two points on a record and Calvin is scared out of his mind. Daren 7 Nov 2010 11:09 am: "Where does wind come from?" "Trees sneezing." New Subreddit: Explain It Like I’m Calvin | Slacktory | The only site on the internet. 22 Sep 2011 8:47 pm (pingback): [...] the canonical answers from the actual comic here. And then go make up some answers for the current questions at [...] Don Wood 6 Jun 2012 7:10 pm: All four of my sons grew up with Calvin and Hobbs. That explains everything. Paddy 23 May 2012 5:12 pm: Thanks, I've been looking for the B&W world strip for ages, and now not only did I find it here, you've collected strips from one of my favorite themes from C&H! Thank you! A dad maybe a bit too much like Calvin's Anjali 14 Apr 2012 1:33 pm: Ha, brilliant!! My favourite strip of all time. Saturday 6.25.11 « Crossfit South Bend blog 25 Jun 2011 12:01 am (pingback): [...] Calvin’s father explains science [...] Dave 30 Jan 2012 8:35 am: I've got to say, I have based some of my parenting from what I learned in C\H. Unfortunately, I've also taught my daughter to question things that don't seem right. And she does, she definitely does. Judy H 23 Feb 2012 7:37 am: I just remembered how I found your blog. I Googled "Calvin and Hobbes Bridge Load Limit", this being my favorite C & H strip, and up popped your site. Lucky me! I pinned the strip to "Pinterest", my newest favorite website, and that links me (and other folks who follow me on Pinterst) back to your site. Cool. I'm in California, BTW. Judy If I could find words « Mon Tout Petit Montréal 24 Oct 2012 7:20 pm (pingback): [...] je songe à écrire un livre qui se nommera « Etymologie et linguistique pour le papa de Calvin« ) copyright : [...] James Robert Smith 8 Dec 2012 4:34 pm: I had completely forgotten that Calvin's dad was a total asshole! From the mouths of babes and sucklings – technology and toddlers « 28 Nov 2012 4:03 pm (pingback): [...] of entertaining myself by warping his mind with made-up answers the way Calvin’s dad does (for examples, see this link), I tried to answer his questions as simply and logically as possible. However, reality is often [...] Why I’m Not Allowed to Have Children | Fangs and Clause 28 Aug 2013 4:35 pm (pingback): [...] I like to call this the Calvin’s Dad School of Parenting. [...] The insidious costs of disability for spoonies | Nourish Creativity 31 Jan 2013 12:47 pm (pingback): [...] I think about this, I am reminded of this Calvin and Hobbes strip: http://www.s-anand.net/blog/calvin-and-hobbes-dad-explains-science/ I live my life kind of like Calvin’s dad imagines civil engineers determine weight limits: I [...] Samuel 1 Mar 2013 8:57 am: Confession time: when I was younger, I actually believed Calvin's dad's story about how the world used to be black-and-white. Minivans Are Hot | The Father to His Calvin 16 May 2013 1:19 pm (pingback): [...] Image Credit [...] Calvin and his dad | ENGL388 16 Apr 2013 3:17 am (pingback): [...] http://www.s-anand.net/blog/calvin-and-hobbes-dad-explains-science/ [...] Magic | Idle Log 8 Sep 2014 6:43 pm (pingback): […] of explanations on children. Bill Watterson satirizes it with Calvin’s dad, and it’s hilarious. Enjoy. It wouldn’t bother me much, but Liam was not asking very complicated questions. He wanted to […] Dad, does the moon like me? | Just In Words 18 Feb 2016 3:49 am (pingback): […] One morning, after a full moon, the moon was clearly visible in the morning sky. I pointed it out to him. As we continued to drive, he noticed that the moon appeared to “follow” us — it basically stayed in the same spot in the sky as we drove along. “Dad, the moon’s following me…. Dad, does the moon like me?” My son clearly thought that the moon was following him and that therefore it only made sense that the moon liked him. At that moment I had a decision to make, I could explain to my son that the moon really wasn’t following us at all it just appears that way because the moon is 238,900 miles away and that at that distance, the angle between where we are and the moon would change so negligibly that it would only appear that the moon was following us; or I could lie, agree with him, and not shatter this adorable sense of self-Ptolemaic importance, somewhat like Calvin’s dad in these Calvin and Hobbes Comics. […] Kaushik Banerjee 12 Nov 2017 5:22 am: Amazing alternative explanations . Why not, even scientists and everybody once knew that the Sun goes round the earth. Hilariously Untrue Dad 'Facts' Part 1: Brought to You by the Father from 'Calvin & Hobbes' 23 Jan 2018 10:25 pm (pingback): […] collected some of Calvin’s father’s most sagely wisdom for you to try on for […] Why does JNDI return a DataSource with a NULL uri instead of a lookup failure? - Tutorial Guruji 13 Aug 2021 7:55 am (pingback): […] Why did lookup create a useless BasicDataSource with a null URL? Is there a better way to detect if a JNDI name ‘doesn’t exist’ than to try using it and see if it blows up? That approach reminds me of how they test bridges. […] 70 Posts From ‘The Dad’ That Perfectly Encapsulate Parenthood - Success Life Lounge 18 Oct 2023 12:55 pm (pingback): […] fathers is to simply make things up, perhaps most famously, the dad in “Calvin and Hobbes,” whose hair-brained explanations for curious Calvin work as a pretty effective punchline. Instead of rolling their eyes, true […]

Calvin and Hobbes Dad explains science


I've shared my favorite Calvin and Hobbes arc featuring Tracer Bullet, Calvin's hard-boiled private eye persona. This 1990 series parodies film noir tropes as Calvin transforms a simple math quiz into a gritty, high-stakes investigation.

My all-time favourite series from Calvin and Hobbes. QUIZ: Jack and Joe leave their homes at the same time and drive towards each other. Jack drives at 60 mph, while Joe drives at 30 mph. They pass each other in 10 minutes. How far apart were Jack and Joe when they started? It was another baffling case. But then, you don't hire a private eye for the easy ones ... I'd planned to take the day off and spend time with a couple of buddies. My buddies travel light and they're fun to have around. One travels in a holster, and the other in a hip flask. My name is Bullet. Tracer Bullet. What people call me is something else again. I'm a private eye. It says so on my door. The last thing I wanted this morning was a case to solve, but the dame who brought it was persuasive. Most dames are, somehow. Get to work, Calvin. I told her it would cost fifty greenbacks a day, plus expenses. I stepped out into the rainy streets and reviewed the facts. There weren't many. Two saps, Jack and Joe, drive towards each other at 60 and 30 mph. After 10 minutes, they pass. I'm supposed to find out how far apart they started. Questions pour down like the rain. Who ARE these mugs? What were they trying to accomplish? Why was Jack in such a hurry? And what difference does it make where they started from? I had a hunch that, before this was over, I'd be sorry I asked. First I figured I'd try the Derkins dame. Susie and I never hit it off, although occasionally we hit each other. Susie had a face that suggested somebody upstairs had a weird sense of humor, but I wasn't going to her place for laughs. I needed information. The way I looked at it, Derkins acted awfully smug for a dame who had a head for numbers and not much else. Maybe she's got something on Jack and Joe. The question is, will she sing? No, I won't tell you what the answer is. Do your OWN work! The Derkins dame wasn't talking. Someone had gotten to her first and shut her up good. I knew Susie, and closing her mouth would've taken some work. I needed a clue and a drink. One of them I knew where to find. You've made enough trips to the water fountain. Finish your quiz. Suddenly a gorilla pulled me in an alley, squeezed my spine into an accordion, and played a polka on me with brass knuckles. Youse ain't going nowhere, flatfoot. The inside of my head was exploding with fireworks. Fortunately, my last thought turned out the lights when it left. When I came to, the pieces all fit together. Jack and Joe's lives were defined by integers. Obviously, they were part of a 'numbers' racket! Back in the office, I pulled the files on all the numbers BIG enough to keep Susie quiet and want me out of the picture. The answer hit me like a .44 slug. It had to be the number they called 'Mr. Billion'. Answer: 1,000,000,000. Case closed! Time's up. Bring your papers forward. What did you get, Calvin? I think the answer's 15. Comments JEZZI 18 Nov 2008 4:55 pm: Tracer Bullet is so funny! Comic Books – Mr. Andrews Classes 23 Dec 2011 1:16 am (pingback): [...] Comic [...] Bullitt (1968) – CineHatch 9 Jul 2018 12:03 am (pingback): […] by spoofs like The Simpsons’ masterpiece McBain and the hat tip of Calvin & Hobbes‘ Tracer Bullet). Still, Peter Yates’ uneven direction doesn’t help, with pacing that lurches more than San […]

Calvin and Hobbes Tracer Bullet 1


Watch a psychology experiment where a student asking for directions is swapped behind a passing door. Many subjects fail to notice the switch, demonstrating the powerful and counterintuitive phenomenon of change blindness.

A cool psychology experiment. A student asks someone for directions. People carrying a door pass between them. Students switch. They check if the person giving directions has noticed that it's a different person. Many people don't notice the switch.

Change blindness


I looked at the new Apple iPhone and Cisco's subsequent trademark lawsuit. While the device is visually impressive, the lack of tactile feedback is a concern, and Cisco's legal move might be a signal to dump their stock.

Firstly, views on the Apple iPhone: great. Next impression: not so great. You can't use it with your eyes closed. And yesterday, Cisco sues Apple for iPhone trademark infringement. In a video on intellectual property, James Boyle at Duke Law School says, when a company starts suing over intellectual property, it's a good time to dump their stock.

Cisco sues Apple over iPhone


I explore the neurobiology of the mind through Ilayaraja’s genius for orchestration. I analyze his use of Vasantha, Hamsanandhi, and Ramapriya ragas, detailing how he blends Western classical structures with Carnatic melodies in tracks like 'Andhi Mazhai'.

This is the 10th of 15 articles titled Classical Ilayaraja appeared on Usenet in the 90s.\ I've added links to the songs, so you can listen as you read.\ You could also try my Tamil song search. The mind is a wondrous subset of the terrific biological entity, the brain. Literally, the heart is often alluded to as the site of thinking. In old Thamizh cinemas, the heroine would invariably say to the villain at some point (like the inevitable rape scene!) "naasakkaara, unakku idhaiyamE illaiyaa?" while the unmindful villain would be busy disrobing her with a terrible "ha ha ha" laughter! Why does the heroine have to say this kind of a scientifically preposterous statement, while it was the villain's brain that decided to rape her, and not the poor "heart"! Does the evil mind of the villain exist in his brain? If so, where is it in the brain? Or, is the mind just the product of the functioning of the brain? A disease process affecting the frontal lobe of the brain might make an individual loose all his social inhibition and pee in the public, or to go to Bourbon street in New Orleans, or to Mardigraz in Galveston! Damaging the visual cortex of a villain might make him blind, but he might still try to follow the heroine with the help of her bangle noise! Damaging his temporal lobe might render him hearing impaired, but he might still try to get to the heroine with the help of "koondal" scent cues (refer: Thiruvilayadal!). As a last effort you may want to damage his parietal lobe, but then he would still see the heroine, even though he might not know what to do to the heroine! So, where the heaven is the so called MIND?! The intellectual power of the mind is amazing. More than 2000 years ago, Eratosthenes sits in his ill-built mud house and thinks in the deepest crevice of his neural network "what will be the circumference of the earth". He does a simple calculation and concludes "about 22,000 miles"! Somewhere amidst the tangle of their neural network the Indians think abstractly about the non-existant numeral and make their magnum opus contribution of "nothing" to the field of mathematics! Just give Einstein a pencil and a paper and a chair and a table. He will fire a couple of neurons in his brain and say a radical theory that the matter and energy are one and the same and that they are interchangeable. As though he was the incarnation of the God himself, he would start theorizing the rules and regulations that govern the movement and functioning of various celestial bodies that are millions of light years away from his chair in New Jersey! His brain might be now floating in a jar of formaldehyde in Missouri city, but where the heaven was his MIND?! Orchestral music is one of the greatest contribution of the minds of the westerners. Indian classical music, be it carnatic or hindustani, has always encouraged the imagination of the mind to pour out extempore, like a spontaneous volcanoic eruption on the stage. This is evidenced by the weightage that has been given to originality and spontaneous creativity on stage during alapanai (raagam elaboration), sangadhis (singing the same line in different tunes), niraval (singing the critical line of a krithi in different tunes, with lot of emotional appeal), kalapana swaram and lastly in thani avardhanam for the percussionists. On the other hand the orchestral music of the westernists is a well planned one. There might be hundreds of musicians in the orchestra. Each of them play the notes that is given to them. Unlike the Indian classical music, it needs a lot of rehersal and they have several practice sessions before going on the stage. There is creativity involved in western music too, but it is not spontaneous. The composer creates the tune sitting in a serene atmosphere, and it is brought to the public by the orchestra, with a complete suppression of any effort for individual creativity. One of the greatest achievement of Ilayaraja is that he appropriately used the best of the western and eastern classicism. To wield a huge orchestra is no joke. In many of his carnatic songs he has shown an uncanny skill in organising the orchestral music with a classical splendour. Vasantha is a fantastic raagam. It is a popular janyam of the unpopular melam Suryakaantham (17th). Its arohanam and avarohanam are Sa Ma1 Ga3 Ma1 Da2 Ni3 Sa; Sa Ni3 Da2 Ma1 Ga3 Ri1 Sa. While traditionally it is believed that Boopalam is the raagam suitable for the dawn, Vasantha is the raagam suitable for the dusk. So, no wonder Ilayaraja used this raagam for a duet which talks about the rain pouring during the dusk! andhi mazhai pozhigiradhu is a great song in the movie Rajapaarvai. Kamalhasan sings this song with Madhavi. It is one of those early songs that showed the full fervency of Ilayaraja's mind for creativity. The classical orchestral grandeur of this song was unbelievable at that time. I distinctly remember hearing this song for the first time in "Oliyum Oliyum" in Madras Doordarshan. Those days we were living in the Telephone quarters in Kilpauk, Madras. Since we did not have a TV, we used to go to our neighbour's house. They had a merciless "hundiyal" right at the door, which demanded 25 paise for each program! Well, getting to see songs like andhi mazhai for just 25 paise was definitely worth the money! Ilayaraja starts the song with a prelude of "pop pop pop poboppo" by the chorus. The sudhdha madhyamam in Vasantha has served as the starting point for many classical krithis. Ilayaraja too starts his "pop pop" in the madyamam like "Ma Ma Ma Ma Ga Ma Da". Classically, the transition from Ma to Da is not a straight one. There is a subtle Ni in between. That is, when the musicians say Da they go all the way to Ni and then drop down to the daivatham. Ilayaraja starts the pallavi "andhi mazhai" like Ma Ma Ma, Ga Ma Da Ma Ga, Ga Ma Da Ma Ga Ma Ga Ri, Ma Ga Ga Ri Ri Sa. It is a beautiful start. All the hidden melody in the swaras of Vasantha are extracted in the pallavi itself. Even in the charanam his mind seems to be bent upon extracting all the melody in the Ga Ma Da transition. He starts the charanam like Ga Ma Da Ma, Ga Ma Da Ma, and the tune lingers there for a while! This song also marked the early classics of Vairamuthu. His lyrics became a controversy too, in this song. He writes: andhi mazhai pozhigiradhu\ ovvoru thuLiyilum un mugam therigiradhu\ indhiran thOttathu mundhiriyE\ manmadha naattukku mandhiriyE Look, the hero who sings this song is a blind man in the movie! How can he see the heroine's face in each of those beautiful rain drops?! Perhaps that is what defines a poet's world. Physical defects get nullified in their world of fantasy! But, surely Vairamuthu got into trouble when he called the heroine as "the cashew nut of Lord Indira's garden"! Basically he means to say that the heroine is like a kind of sex bomb to the hero! She is the bible that the hero reads in the night! That is understandable. But what does this cashewnut stuff mean? Lord Indira is not known for romantic deeds like Manmadhan! Just for matching the alliteration of the words he made a senseless statement. (Recently Vaali got into trouble when he said inji iduppazhagaa in Thevar Magan. Sure that ginger has got all degrees of sharp bends in its structure, but what has it got to do with the hero's hip!) In Demolition Man, Sandra Bullock may feel very much disgusted about what she calls as "biological transfer of fluids". But look how Vairamuthu characterises the feelings love creates during the youthful period of fantasy. He says "dreams torture", "eyelids weigh heavily", "it is like suturing a thorn inside the eye" and so on... Ilayaraja made T.V.Gopalakrishnan sing in the second interlude of this song. A short piece of Vasantha. (Earlier he had made him sing a short piece of Keeravani in idhu oru nilaa kaalam in Tick Tick Tick). There are few classical people who have tried the orchestral expedition of carnatic music. I remember the recordings of Y.M.Kamasastri often played in the radio long time ago. Invariably he would pick up a rare vivadhi raagam for his exploration and have his orchestra play it. Albeit high technical quality, those recordings were not very much enjoyable. I would dare say that Ilayaraja was the first guy who could appropriately use the orchestral music in a very "enjoyable" way. Later he got so much used to composing a tune for his orchestra that he started doing everything in his mind. That is an unbeleivable state of knowledge. When the song goes like Ma Ma Ma Ga Ma Da Ma Ga, the background violin may be going like Da Ni Sa Ga Ri Sa in the upper octave. The chorus might be traversing in the Da Ni of the lower octave. The guitar chords might be vibrating in the F major area! If you could figure out that all these individual musical events would unify in a perfect harmony to give a superb Vasantha melody, just by imagining in your mind, then is it not a great task?! Where the heaven is this enigmatic MIND? Ilayaraja has given three more Vasantha songs. maan kaNdEn maan kaNdEn in Rajarishi is a equally classical song . It has been sung by K.J. Yesudoss and Vani Jayaram. The song goes like Sa Sa Ni Sa Ni Da Ni, Sa Sa Ni Sa Ni Da Ni, Sa Sa Ni Ri...Sa. The second interlude is especially good. Pulamaipuththan has written this song. In the charanam he writes "kaatrukum ull moochu vaangum"! That is, when the thalaivan and thalaivi embrace each other during love, they would do it so tightly that even the wind that got caught between their bodies would feel breathless! This kind of personifying the pancha boothams and writing poetry like "fire itself would feel very hot" "wind itself would feel breathless" was started by Thiruvaalar Vairamuthu! Pulaimaipiththan too, seems to have changed his style to suit the modern trend. There is a short piece of Vasantha in the raagamalika song in Unnal Mudiyum Thambi. enna samaiyalO starts with Mohanam. Then it is followed by Vasantha (raagam vasantha, naan rusithu parka rasam thaaa..), Kalyani and lastly Madhyamavathi (ilayai podadi). Recently he has tried Vasantha in a half boiled way in Paatu Paadava. The song starts like nil nil nil. It is a very different tune. But unfortunately, these good songs seem to have got lost before the incredible power of Rahman, like the local "super 501 bar" soap in Thamizhnadu got lost to the "national" washing powder Nirma! Hamsanandhi is one of the popular janyams of the unpopular 53rd melam Gamanachramam (the prathimadhyamam of Suryakaantham). The other popular janyam of Gamanachramam is Poorvi Kalyani. I don't know if there are any cinema songs in Poorvi Kalyani. But there are a lot of songs in Hamsanandhi. Ilayaraja has used this raagam both for happy and sad occasions. Probably his first song in this raagam came in Rajni's Thanga Magan. raaththiriyil pooththirukkum is a great song. The orchestral music is lilting. The song has been sung by the evergreen pair S.P.B and Janaki. Look at the classic "briha" (rapid vocal journey between multiple swaras in a split second) involving Ni Sa Ri Sa Ri when they sing "rathiriyil"! Pulamaipiththan has written this song too. One of his imagination in this song is ultimate! He says in the pallavi "pagalum urangidum rathiriyil.." Is it not a great idea to qualify the night as the time in which "even the day sleeps"! There is one superb Hamsanandhi in Salangai Oli. vEdham aNuvilum oru naadham is the last song in (the climax) of the movie. It is a crucial song because Kamal dies during this song. The recording scale seems to be very high, S.P.B starting in the thara sthayi gandaram. The other Hamsanandhi songs are vaanam niram maarum (Dhaavani Kanavugal), Eraadha maiyil mElE (Mudhal Mariyadhai), Or poo maalai (Iniya Uravu Poothadhu), raaga dheebam Etrum nEram (Payanangal Mudivadhilai). Needless to say there is a great masterpiece by an earlier music director (kaalaiyum neeyE by A.M.Raja). Hamsanandi is the panchama varjaya raagam of Gamanachramam (ie., having all the swaras except Pa). Cinema music directors tend to use a lot of Ma1 in Hamsanandhi. The introduction of sudden Ma1 gives a great change to the tune. In kaalayum neeyE, A.M.Raja introduces a beautiful Ma1 when he sings 'katrum neeyE'. Ilayaraja does the same treatment to the raagam when the charanam goes like "vazhai ilai neerthelithu" in raaththiriyil. This kind of use of double madhyamam makes a great change to the tune! Recently he has also given a song in Gamanachramam. That song comes in the movie Vadhiyar Veetu Pillai (Sathyaraj). The song is hEy oru poonjOlai. It is a great song. One raagam before the order of Gamanachramam in the melakartha scale (ie., 52nd) is the raagam Ramapriya. Ilayaraja has given a marvelous Ramapriya in the movie Moga Mull. The song is kamalam paadha kamalam, sung by K.J.Yesudoss. It is like a mini-katcheri in cinema! No wonder he gave such a pure Ramapriya because the hero is a carnatic vocalist in the movie. It is so unfortunate that such kind of "gems" go unnoticed because of the failure of the movie. Now they say that Ilayaraja makes a tune in just a matter of few minutes. He writes the tune not only for the song, but for the entire orchestra in just a matter of few minutes! He doesn't seem to follow the primitive way of playing his tunes in the harmonium and seeing how it sounds. He seems to hear the tune in his "mind". It is amazing how these minds in the creative industry could be used in such an intelligent and time efficient manner. The creation of good tunes by Ilayaraja's mind could have been only a secondary act to fulfill its primary intent of aggrandizement by demanding 6 lakhs for each movie. Poor Ramanujam's mind might not have even got a penny for all those giant leaps in mathematics that it made. The reality is that it is the benefaction by these great minds in the intellectual and scientific fronts that keep the society functioning between yugas. Coming back to the age old question "where the heaven is this MIND"? There are some people who believe that the mind doesn't exist in the brain. Maybe it is an extracranial entity. May be it surrounds the head like an electro magnetic field surrounding a magnet. Perhaps the "once upon a time" unrealistic halo around the head of Lord Buddha in my state board history book only referred to his mind! Then, P.V.Narasimha Rao, T.N.Seshan, Cho. Ramaswamy and their other (bald) kind would have a bigger halo, as more mind is likely radiate through their unprotected head! Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,\ Internal Medicine Department,\ Brackenridge Hospital,\ Austin, Tx 78701. Comments jyothimahesh 29 Dec 2008 3:15 am: Its fantastic t oview this article I want to know the concept of phrasing thats helps to make fine tune for a telugu song. ks narayanan 11 Mar 2009 5:38 am: Exceelent write up , which I wish to appreciate very much.But some nasty interludes could ve been avoided like ref to truck drivers misdemeanours. I ve not been able to access ur write up,if any , On Ilayaraja's usage of the enchanting Raagas Keeravani, Charukesi,Abher, Varali. Pl forward to my ID, if possible. Kannan Krishnan 23 Jul 2009 2:35 am: “the cashew nut of Lord Indira’s garden”! Mundhiri means grapes....otherwise "Kodi mundhiri" to be specific. Cashew nut also mundhiri...but "Mundhiri kottai". You are a grape of Indiran's garden! You are so sweet like grapes that is created by Indiaran. Sudha 10 Dec 2009 2:14 pm: Am thrilled to read such a insightful comments and comparison of carnatic raagas with movies. I simply loved the way the metaphor for mind ! halo is given. Great show!... Subhashini Balasubramanian 27 Sep 2010 1:59 am: Very Interesting and informative blog. I can literally listen to the songs in my mind while reading through. Great Work! doyoureallycare 17 Apr 2011 4:59 pm: Nice read. For starters originality is overrated. If anythin any great artist should be happy that his creation finally manages to transcend the boundaries of language class etc. LDVinci is not going to turn in his grave because some 21st century artist ripped his work off or drew inspiration from it. A large part of the world would never have known about Monalisa if not for the millions of tarnished reproductions. Art should transcend boundaries of class, language heck even the artist himself. An artist wanting his creation to stay the way it is , is similar to a parent looking at a new born and saying I wont feed this child of mine, for I would prefer that the child stay pure and the way it is right now for ever. Drawing parallels, if an artist so desires that his patrons be made purely out of a classy/all-knowing crowd , he should display it to a set of handpicked patrons and then destroy it instead of letting some lackey keep records..... chnadrasekhar 30 Aug 2011 11:28 am: a very nice article on our maestro ilayaraja sir. would you please forward about the songs composed by ilayaraja sir , in KEERAVANI raga in both tamil and telugu , and also please mention about the orchestraisation of these songs. if possible please forward those to my ID. thank you

Classical Ilayaraja 10


I explore whether raagas can evoke humour, analyzing Ilayaraja's use of Arabhi and Kunthalavarali for comedic effect. I also compare how MSV used Sama and highlight the technical nuances of Kaanada and Darbari Kaanada in popular cinema.

This is the 11th of 15 articles titled Classical Ilayaraja appeared on Usenet in the 90s.\ I've added links to the songs, so you can listen as you read.\ You could also try my Tamil song search. V.G.Pannerdass has got an experimental animal in his V.G.P Golden Beach near Madras! That is his "goorka". He pays that watchman only to stand near the gate with an expressionless face. Whatever the passersby do, he would stand there with the same old expressionless face! Let Kamal Hassan do all the "seshtai" that he does in the last scene of Moonram Pirai, the VGP goorka's mask like face would show neither happiness nor sadness! He'd neither cry nor laugh. The VGP management is so proud of this guy that it is even ready to bet a hefty prize money if that would motivate somebody to make this guy cry or laugh. I cannot help wondering at VGP's morbid taste in having this kind of a person at their gate. Now, can we consider the usage of raagas to make this person change his emotions? If Ilayaraja goes before this person and sings his Valli song (enna enna kanavu) or Payanangal Mudivadhillai song (vaigaraiyil) in Subhapanthuvarali raagam, would it make his affect sad? It perhaps would, because some of the raagas indeed have a powerful negative effect on one's affect, causing him to go to the lows! Let SPB go before this person and sing his Mayuri song (idhu oru mananaatiya medai) in the raagam Brindavana Saranga, or L.Vaidyanathan sing his veeNaiyadi nee enakku (Ezhavadu Manidhan) in Kalyani, would it make his affect happy? It perhaps would, because some raagas indeed have a very powerful positive effect on one's affect, causing him to go to the highs! (This is what music therapy basically aims at, right?). Now, the question is, are there any raagas that can really make this person laugh or at least to open his pursed lips and give a smile ?! The human species is very conceited that only it can laugh! It has concluded that the sense of humour is an essential human quality. Maybe, during the innumerable years of evolution, it is the only species that has somehow successfully learnt to expressively manifest its inner humourous feelings. Just because the animals do not widely open their mouth and laugh (as many of us do often, much to the disgust of our neighbours!), the old ancestral members of our species seem to have concluded that the animals do not have any sense of humour. I at least know of one another species that can express its humour well! Buy a pocket of "kadalamittai" and start ascending the stairs of Trichi Malaikotai to have Lord Ganesha's darshan. Those garrulous monkeys 'gumbal' there will stealthly follow you and at one oppurtune moment "rag" you and snatch away your kadalamittai with a swift agile attack! While they recede away from you (or rather you recede away from them) the victims report noticing a kinda derisive laughter by the monkeys! Anyway, if raagas can cause sadness and crying, can it also cause a person to laugh! Music directors often face this challenge, when directors tell them a comical situation in their movie and ask for a tune. M.S.Viswanathan has done a fantastic job in the movie Bale Pandiya. The song is neeyE enakku enRum. MSV tuned that song in chaste Sudha Danyasi. The situation of that song is a very comical one, Sivaji Ganesan and first class actor M.R.Radha vying with each other in their jest. The lyrics too is quite comical. But, the question is, does the Sudha Danyasi raagam of the song have an element of humour in it! Probably not. Ilayaraja too has used pure classical raagas to suit humourous situations. In Thambiku Endha Ooru, Madhavi is a city girl. Hero Rajini is a country brute! Madhavi happens to come to Rajini's village once. And now, even a small "paapa" with a rubber nipple in its mouth will tell the rest of the story: Rajini will sing a song critisizing Madhavi, Madhavi will get irritated, then she will fight with Rajini and vice versa, and when the villain comes, both of them will start loving each other and finally, the extras in police dress will come and arrest the villain....! Can you try to guess what raagam Ilayaraja has used for the comical song! Arabhi! Arabhi is a Sankarabharanam janyam. Its arohanam and avarohanam are Sa Ri2 Ma1 Pa Da2 Sa; Sa Ni3 Da2 Pa Ma Ga3 Ri2 Sa. It is a very pleasant raagam. It is closely related (sanchara-wise) to Devakandhari. There are no cinema songs in Devakandhari. But, in the pre-Ilayaraja period we have got one Arabhi song. That is Erikkarai mElE. I guess it has been tuned by the then giant K.V.Mahadevan. T.M.S starts the song in his "ganeer" voice in the madhyama sthayi dhaivatham. Ilayaraja's first Arabhi song is "aasai kiLiyE arai kilO puLiyE.." Malaysia Vasudevan has sung this song. He is one of the best singers of our time, who has been appropriately used only by Ilayaraja. Malaysia does not seem to have got any proper training in classical music. His voice is like a resume with record of BA (history) from Madras University and 2 months of computer training in NIIT! If you give it to a proper bodyshopper it will come to California. Otherwise it will just go to teach 7th standard history text in Madras Corporation school! (Thou shall not take offence, dear resume!) Like Rahman uses the "thagara dappa" voice of Suresh Peters wonderfully and sells it, Ilayaraja has used Malaysia's unpolished voice excellently in many of his highly classical songs. aasai kiLiyE is one such instance....The song starts like this Ma Pa Da Sa, Da Sa Da Pa, Pa Pa Da Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa Ri, Ri Ma Pa Da Da Pa Da Sa....It is a fantastic song, giving all the raaga-lakshanam of Aarabi in a very pure form. Even though the avarohanam of Aarabi just lists all the swaras of Sankarabaranam plainly, there is a specific way by which you got to use those swaras to make it sound Aarabi. The temporal duration (karvai) of Ma is usually protracted while the gandaram is just touched upon very rapidly. Thus Ma Ga Ri Sa is sung like Ma....GaRi Sa. Also, we can practically omit the usage of nishadam and the raagam would still be unblemished. Ilayaraja has not used Ni in this song. The lyrics of this song is funny. aasai kiLiyE arai kilO puLiyE\ azhugina thakkaaLiyE\ mEyura kOzhi ellaam aaguradhu kariyE\ adiyE en arumai thavakkaLaiyE If the hero taunts the heroine by calling her as "spoiled tomato" then it is understandable. When the hero calls her as "half kg of tamarind", what does it mean? But, that is how the song goes.... Now, lately Ilayaraja has given two more Aarabi songs. One song goes like mannavanE mannavanE manasukkEththa thennavanE (Thandhu Vitten Ennai). I think it is a Vijayakanth movie song. The song has been sung by SPB and Janaki. It is a very melodious song. He has used Ni in this song. The last Aarabi that he has given comes in the movie Pudhupatti Ponnuthayee. The song is madhurai vaazhum meenakshiyE. This is also an unbelievably classic song sung by K.J.Yesudoss and Janaki. One can very easily learn Aarabi with the help of these cinema songs! But, does Arabi have an element of humour? Probably not. Carnatic music is like Choolaimedu 24 hours polyclinic in Madras. You go there with just symptoms of common cold. But the Doctor there (who has not yet cleared the subjects that he failed in final MBBS) has lots of surprises for you. He says that you are very week and almost coerces you to have the supposedly invigorating 5% glucose drip (which hardly has a total of 25 gm of glucose in it!). Carnatic music has got lot more surprises to give you than this Doc! There is a raagam which has got the same arohanam and avarohanam as Aarabi (Sa Ri Ma Pa Da Sa; Sa Da Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa; Since we can sing Aarabi without using Ni, we can say so) The raagam is Sama, another janyam of Sankarabaranam. Even though Aarabi and Sama are swara-wise identical, they are totally two different raagas sanchara wise. The difference comes in the way we deal with the gandaram. In Aarabi, the Ga is just touched upon while we go from Ma to Ri. In Sama, we can be little more liberal (time-wise) with Ga. Also, there are certain special prayogams in Sama like Ma Pa Da Ma. So, these minute details make a drastic difference in these raagas. MSV is the only one who has beautifully used this wonderful raagam, Sama in cinema. He has given two Samas. One is in the movie Sirai. The story is a revolutionary plot charecterizing the pathos of Lakshmi, an innocent rape victim. She is the wife of a Brahmin priest, Prasanna. After the rape the priest finds her repulsive, and she decides to go and live with the rapist (Rajesh)! In the first few scenes there is a song to portray the kind of love the priest and his wife have for each other. The song is naan paadi kondE iruppEn in the raagam Sama. Oh, boy! What a song! What a classic Sama piece! Vani Jayaram has sung this song. The heroine says: saahithyam naanaaga sangeetham neeyaaga\ naal thOrum isai archchanai\ en paadal nee kEtka un kaNgal enai paarkka\ naanE un varadhakshinai How beautifully the poet (Kannadasan?) has written about their love. Later, after the rape, the hypocrisy of the hero's love gets fully exposed. Very rarely, we get to see such classic song, classically acted and classically picturised (director: R.C.Shakthi). The second Sama that MSV has given is mounaththil viLaiyaadum manasaakshiyE (Nool Veli) This song has been sung by Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna. It is a great song. These are all great contributions of MSV to Thamizh cinema music. Recently, in the movie Sathi Leelavathi there is a very humourous song. The song has been sung by Kamal Hassan himself. This maarugO maarugO is in the raagam Kaanada. Kaanada is a major gana raagam. It is probably now less sung in the katcheris than about a few decades ago (the popularity of a raagam seems to go through a cyclical change through years!) Kaanada is a janyam of Karaharapriya. Its arohanam and avarohanam are Sa Ri2 Ga2 Ma1 Pa Ma1 Da2 Ni2 Sa; Sa Ni2 Pa Ma1 Ga2 Ma1 Ri2 Sa. The key prayogam that gives Kaanada its identity is Pa Ma Ga Ma Ri Sa. Ilayaraja has followed the grammer of this raagam sincerely in the pallavi and charanam. But the interlude music is not very good. Because, he used this raagam for a humourous situation, does it mean that it has an element of humour in it! Probably not. Earlier, he used Kaanada in a very majestic way in the movie Sindhu Bhairavi. The song is poomaalai vaangi vandhaan. Yesudoss! With the drone of the Thamboora, and the usage of very minimal instruments, it is a fantastic song. Rahman has few Kaanada's to his credit too. First, pudhu veLLai mazhai in the movie Roja. There is another number kisu kisu nammakul kidaiyaadhu (Manidha Manidha). There is a liberal Ni3 in this song. Deva scored a Kaanada song too (thennamara thoppukullE kuyilE - Michael Raj) Earlier, how can we forget the old gem mullai malar mElE by the music directors of yesteryears. Dharbari Kaanada is closely related to Kaanada. While Kaanada is the janyam of the 22nd melam (Karaharapriya), Dharbari Kaanada is a janyam of the 20th melam (Nadabhairavi). Thus we use sudha daivatham (Da1) instead of Da2 (sathuchrathi daivatham) in Darbari Kaanada. Ilayaraja has a few songs in this raagam. The best example is aagaaya vennilaavE in the movie Arangetra Velai. Uma Ramanan and Jayachandran (or Yesudoss?). Uma Ramanan is another unfortunate singer (like Malaysia). Only Ilayaraja has exploited her marvellous voice to the maximum capacity. Recently he has used her in Paatu Paadava (nil nil nil; an half boiled Vasantha) and in Pudhupatti Ponnuthayee (oor urangum nErathilE; a superb Hindholam). Perhaps his first Darbari Kaanada is isai mEdaiyil (Illamai Kalangal) sung by SPB and Janaki. There is another one in the movie Mounam Sammadham (kalyaana thEnnila) by Yesudoss. A couple of years ago, cinematographer Ashok Kumar directed a Hindi movie called as Kamaagni. Reportedly he had sexploited the heroine from top to bottom as the story was some kind of abstract Freudian theme! (P.C.Sriram did the same to Ishwariya in his movie Meera. Is there any association between camera-men turned into directors and hard-core sexploitation?) My brother tells me that there is a very good Darbari Kaanada song in that movie. And, it seems Ilayaraja has done a very rich re-recording in that movie, mostly in Darbari Kaanada! There is a song in the movie Enga Ooru Paatukaaran in which (I presume) that our village hero "pasu nesan" Ramarajan milks his cow (the meaning of the song goes like that). I don't know if that scene was supposed to be comic in that movie, but since Ramarajan would have mostly come in his "touser", probably it was a comedy scene! Can you imagine what raagam Illagaraja has used to tune this song azhagE nee pErazhagi? Kunthalavarali! Look at the selection of raagam! Kunthalavarali is a Karaharapriya janyam. Sa Ma1 Pa Da2 Ni2 Da2 Sa; Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ma1 Sa. He has used this raagam very beautifully in this song sung by SPB. Particularly the thara sthayi Sa Ma prayogas are very good (veerangalum dheerangalum...) Maatai paal karakaradhuku Kunthalavarali kEkudha! I don't know if there are any more kunthalavarali songs in cinema music. Man is essentially a visual animal. He gets most of the information from the external world as a tremendous fund of visual input. The visual information interacts with his intellect and can cause all different kinds of emotions. Just look at the "heart-wrecking" scene of an old thaatha accidently walking on a banana skin and falling on the ground! It might be a real humourous scene! Just look at a self-assumed hero (trying to show film in front of a ladies hostel with his 2 stroke Kawasaki Bajaj!) skid and fall on the ground! It might be a real humourous scene. Strangely, just auditory input alone doesn't seem to have the capacity to evoke man's sense of humour! Sure that music can cause sadness and happiness. But, humour?! Recently, Music Television showed Beavis and Butt-head farting in public, with a fantastic "background" score! That music indeed seemed to be very humourous. But, if I had put off the TV and let my room-mates hear that "music" alone, I doubt if they would have at the least made a smile! Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,\ Internal Medicine Department,\ Brackenridge Hospital,\ Austin, Tx 78701. Comments sivakumar 18 May 2007 1:10 pm: hai i like all ilayaraja voice songs Guru 10 Mar 2011 5:04 am: Hi, I am an avid follower of classical raja's blogs and love to claim that I am a fanatic of classical IR. Please provide your mail id to talk further. Guru

Classical Ilayaraja 11