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Clearly, I am not the first person to blog about Avatar. Ok, I'm probably the last. So I won't be offended if you don't stick around. But I thought while I'm off-topic this month, that maybe I would talk about something else that is very near and dear to my heart: movies.
I went to see Avatar last Tuesday because my mom wanted to go. I'd heard the hype, but I just wasn't all that interested. It's Fern Gully, and Pocahontas all over again, I thought to myself. Why would I want to spend three hours in a theatre for that?

In fact, aside from my mom wanting to see it, the biggest selling point for me was that it was James Cameron's first movie since Titanic, one of my all-time favorites. The man knows how to pull on heart-strings. I didn't really process that before we went in.

Well, on the other side of that three hours, I can say I am a changed woman. I'm a fan. Avatar was amazing. It's easy to see why James wanted to wait-- I imagine the Na'vi and Pandora in late 90's CGI and the experience, while still rich, would have been so much less than it is now. The visuals are absolutely stunning. We didn't see it in 3-D and probably won't-- 3-D messes with my brain too much-- but even without it, the world created in this movie is incredible.

You feel, even in the most serene moments, as an intimate participator in the story.

My least favorite things were (NOTE: Potential spoilers ahead):

-Neytiri's moodiness-- I felt like she was a little bi-polar towards the end, being angry and then loving and then angry and then loving and then angry and then self-sacrificing and then loving. I would have liked to see some consistency.

-The disasters. I know James Cameron made his name on disaster, but I kept feeling like "how much more can these people take?" And the further he pushed them, the less likely I felt that the avatars would survive their wrath. I was constantly surprised when they weren't immediately lynched after things kept getting worse.

My favorite things were:

-The richness of the landscape and the all-encompassing power and unity of the Eywa.

-The story of a man with a broken body who not only gets a new one, but one that can do beyond incredible things. I feel this very closely with my shot right knee-- so many things I want to do are beyond me.

-The "bond" with the animals. While this kind of weirded me out (but not in a unicorn way), it also made me insanely jealous. I mean, come on, who doesn't wish it was a coming-of-age tradition to wrestle and tame your very own pterodactyl-thing to ride whenever you pleased? I also couldn't help but think how much easier my relationship with Tally would be if I could just reassure her and tell her what to do with my mind instead of having to pound it in through all the fear. But that's a discussion for another time.
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Actor R. Madhavan will for the first time play a character with "grey shades" in Bollywood in Teen Patti. While he is a professor in the forthcoming film
, the actor will also be seen sporting "six different avatars" in the thriller that also features Amitabh Bachchan and Hollywood star Ben Kingsley.

"I have different looks in the film. I'm playing a professor, but when I go to different areas, I'm dressed up as different characters," Madhavan told IANS in an interview.

"There's one (scene) with a very suave, high-end party look; then there is one for the low, scum areas. Another one's of a mid-level thug; there is the professor's look of course and all sort of stuff leading to even a casanova's and an Italian' look," he explained.

"In Hindi films, this will be my first grey kind of character as one who wants everything very fast in life," the 39-year-old added.

"In Teen Patti, I'm playing a professor who believes he deserves a lot more than what life is offering him at that point of time. He decides to take certain steps which land him in a web of greed, lust and defeat - and how much of a heavy price he pays for those decisions."

The multilingual actor is not apprehensive about the audience's reaction to the transition from his chocolate-boy image.

"When the film is wholesome and you are playing a character, they (audiences) will accept you in any case," he said.

"Even Mr. (Amitabh) Bachchan and Shah Rukh (Khan) have done that. It's very important to play different kinds of roles and I am very excited about it. I am very keen to see how the audiences will react to it," he added.

Releasing Feb 26, director Leemna Yadav's Teen Patti is about greed and deception set in the backdrop of high stake gambling.

After his hit 3 Idiots was dragged into a controversy for apparently promoting ragging, Madhavan is playing safe and insists Teen Patti doesn't glorify gambling but is inspired by mathematics.

"If there is anything that Teen Patti will provoke, (it) is mathematics. It deals largely with mathematics in our lives and youngsters' desire to get anything 'now and today' in no time," Madhavan told IANS.

"Youth today want everything fast which is kind of an instant gratification and they want to live life on the fast track and that is what is shown in the movie with the magic of mathematics," he added.

Saira Mohan, Raima Sen and newcomers Shraddha Kapoor, Siddharth Kher, Viabhav Talwar and Dhruv Ganesh also portray pivotal roles in the movie. Teen Patti also boasts of special appearances by Ajay Devgn, Jackie Shroff, Mahesh Manjrekar, Ranjeet, Shakti Kapoor and Tinnu Anand.

Teen Patti reportedly has some passionate scenes between Madhavan and Saira Mohan but the actor steers clear of controversies and says it has been approved by the censor board.

"I'd like to say that on record that the film has a very large U certificate so there will be nothing explicit about it," Madhavan said.

And what about the kissing scenes with Saira?

"These aren't anything to talk about. All that you see (in the movie) is completely universal. The censor board doesn't give you a U certificate if there is a large number of kissing or other such stuff," he said.

Apart from Teen Patti, Madhavan's future projects include Tanu Weds Manu opposite Kangana Ranaut.

source-ndtvmovies.com

Against the backdrop of concerns over hacking of crucial official websites, central security agencies have again warned the government about the use of multi-tasking blackberry instruments by some of the officials working in sensitive ministries including the Prime Minister’s office.

Agencies have also cautioned against the practice of connecting official computers and laptops with unsecured internet connections by some bureaucrats thus compromising security.

With hackers mainly from China very active and having penetrated deep into the cyber space, the security agencies had asked all ministries especially the Defence, External, Home and the PMO to separate their official computers with those used for internet connection.

The recommendations of the central security agencies seem to have gone unheeded. An official maintained that their suggestion was only recommendatory in nature. The National Technical and Research Organisation (NTRO) also circulated the Do’s and Don’ts to key ministries recently after attempts from hackers were noticed.

A quick random check was carried out during which it was found that some of the officials in the Prime Minister’s Office were using Blackberry services and had linked their official emails on the handset, which is not allowed.

A PMO official said there were routine attempts to hack various systems. The PMO has its own system in place to protect against such attempts, the official said, adding, there has been no security breach.

Intense negotiations were held prior to the starting the Blackberry services in India and finally the Department of Telecom in 2008 decided to side-step the opposition of the intelligence agencies and permit the services, being operated by Canadian-firm Research-In-Motion (RIM).

Another problem dogging the cyber space in the country was constant use of official computers by the officials in key ministries despite a warning from security agencies not to link them with the internet.

Security of many of the computers in the Ministry of External Affairs and its Missions abroad was compromised with forcing a security audit of the machines and segregating the virus-affected ones out of the system.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has a separate server for its computers and there have been no attempts to hack its system since it has another server with internet facility. A surprise check of all the computers was being carried at regular intervals.

The National Informatics Centre, the organisation responsible for maintaining government servers and providing internet and intranet facilities to various key ministries, had also faced hacking problem. According to a Canadian firm SecDev Group, which investigated the hacking of the Dalai Lama's computer in late 2008, as many as 12 computers of NIC had been affected by the Chinese hackers.

The group also surprised the government when it mentioned that computers in nine Indian Missions abroad which included key countries like the US and the UK had been affected by the Chinese hackers.

Giving details, the report said the GhostNet system directs infected computers to download a Trojan, known as ghost RAT, which allows attackers to gain complete, real-time control. These instances of ghost RAT are consistently controlled from commercial internet access accounts located on the island of Hainan, People's Republic of China.

"Our investigation reveals that GhostNet is capable of taking full control of infected computers, including searching and downloading specific files, and covertly operating attached devices, including microphones and web cameras.

“China is actively developing an operational capacity in cyberspace, correctly identifying it as the domain in which it can achieve strategic parity, if not superiority, over the military establishments of the United States and its allies.

“Chinese cyber warfare doctrine is well developed, and significant resources have been invested by the People's Liberation Army and security services in developing defensive and offensive capabilities," the report said.

According to them, an email message arrives in the target's inbox carrying the malware in an attachment or web link. The attackers' objective is to get the target to open the attachment or malicious link so that the malicious code can be executed, it said.

Keywords: Blackberry, Prime Minister's Office, government, hacking, NTRO, National Informatics Centre
source-beta.thehindu.com

New Delhi: It is a New Year calendar on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra - capturing her in various moods and colourful saris as she connects with voters in Uttar Pradesh. But the ruling Congress party refuses to say whether it is an indication that the important Gandhi family member will be finally joining politics.

The calender has also been posted on a website, pressbrief.in, that is a depository of information on the Gandhi family.

Congress sources say the calendar was posted on the website on January 12, Priyanka's birthday. It shows her interacting with voters in Rai Bareli and Amethi.

The calendar has led to conjecture about the possibility of her joining active politics in the coming months.

Available on the web, it can be downloaded by any person wishing to have a Priyanka Gandhi calendar.

Besides the 'Priyanka Gandhi Vadra - Rae BareliAmethi Calendar 2010', the website also contains New Year calendars on Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.

Priyanka Gandhi campaigned in Rae Bareli and Amethi, her mother and brother's parliamentary constituencies respectively, in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections but took questions from the media on national issues. There have been demands from party workers that she should join active politics.

The Congress refused to comment if the calendar signalled the younger Gandhi sibling joining politics.

Party spokesman Manish Tewari said the decision should be left to her will.

"There have been demands from time to time for her to join politics but the decision should be left to her will. It is her personal decision," Tewari said, and declined to speak about the calendar.

Party sources said that website 'pressbrief.in' was launched by people connected with Rahul Gandhi's campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in 2007. It has information, photos and videos of rallies and speeches of the Gandhi family.

Another New Year calendar brought out to mark the 125th anniversary of the Congress features Priyanka Gandhi on its second page along with her brother Rahul Gandhi. The calendar has been brought out by Pradip Rathi, general secretary of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.
source-ibnlive.in.com

Director: Ken Ghosh
Actors: Shahid Kapoor, Genelia D’Souza
Rating: *1/2

A popular perception of Bollywood films in the West is that they’re musicals. This notion is only partly correct.

Many are left disappointed to learn that the stars of these films can’t sing. They lip-sync. Fine vocalists behind those songs rarely get their due. Few know music composers by face. Dance steps that movie-stars perform to aren’t the toughest to imitate either. The leading man of our cinema is often not even the best actor of his own film crew. He is just the better looking.

This makes the Bollywood star, hogging all the attention and money alone, the most over-rated figure of any pop-culture.

To be fair, Shahid Kapoor can dance. He can certainly move his body, even if his performances don’t move you much. This claims to be a dance film entirely. On paper, the proposition doesn’t read half as brain-dead as it appears on the big screen.

Since he was born, gauging by his looks, everyone assumed the boy in this film would be a hero one day. He began to believe in the myth.

We’re meant to follow the struggles of this wannabe, determined as he is to make it in showbiz. Even if this show-town looks anything but the grimy human factories of Lokhandwala the filmmakers know better. The Delhi, the hero considers back-home, is a mini Punjab full of Sikhs.

He rehearses dance on the giant Mumbai wooden floors Jennifer Lopez may have practiced on before. Govinda, Hrithik Roshan, Shiamak Davar, he says, are the legends of his field. His tiny apartment from the inside may well be the shanty of big-city America. When we weren’t looking, and he had hardly dough for breakfast, the hero also packed in for himself the 8-pack abs.

He does the multiple rounds of film auditions. The journey, and its conclusion, is predictably known. The music should take care of the rest. It doesn’t.

Songs don’t take the motionless picture forward. This is not a musical. The filmmaker here is merely a director of music videos, and there is one after half a dozen others: “Back straight. Attitude. Feel the music.” Sure.

Between those patchy, over-decorated music television tracks, the banal hero fails a courier boy’s job; sleeps in a car (when he could’ve moved in with his girl); joins a school to teach dance; enlists kids to win a competition; enlists himself to win a talent hunt… The show goes on, and so on, and so forth. As does the refrain: “Tu star ban sakta hai. Tu star ban gaya. Mein star banaunga….” (Whatever that means).

We may as well fear for the minor effect on li'l Gauravs and Sameers taking such silliness vaguely seriously. Seeking 'nautanki' fame is anyway turning into a bit of a national disease.
source-hindustantimes.com