Yaay life.

Rob reminded me on Friday to bring my passport to TN. He forgot his on Monday when I waved mine in his face. So he went home and bought his green card but Mavis' passport. After a last minute check we went to his house to correct the mistake. He now has Mavis' green card and his passport.

Virudhagiri – An unquick review.

Right from the first animation sequence describing Captain Cine Arts – I realized that I was witnessing Captain's next magnum opus. To do proper justice to it, this review will be a running twitterish commentary on key points in the movie as they happen as I watch.

• Title song just blow everything that M. G. Ramachandran and a certain Mr. Gaekwad did out the window and the audience's brains. Of course SPB had to sing it.

• Captain just made and entry and quickly told the Aussies/English/Tamil-toting Caucasian bobbies to chill out while he shows some Tamilnaad swagger. Yes!
• Captain just explained his Holmes-grade teeviravadhis identification strategy. Only captain can make us awe his mental and sentimental faculties at the same time.
• Captain returns to Chennai and the media surrounds him. Of course he does not like praise you idiot of a reporter. That is why the title song was so subtle.
• Arunachaleshwara/Virudhagireeshwara has been invoked, may kickassery prevail. Was that the Obama – yes we can logo on the drum?!
• Captain has made his classic thoppi and thoppai entry. Another quick deduction on attacks on indian students abroad coated again with the warmth of culture sentiment.
• The flirtatious bimbo is his niece?! I thought...never mind. One can note that this is an off-beat captain movie – the lady love is not yet in the plot half hour in.
• The pace is now slowing down to calm the audience's raging blood pressure. Captain has to stop this international organ trafficking nexus. And Chokkan 65.
• Makkal police shows shows off his drosophila dietetics. On an interesting side note, wood can buffer the smell of rotting corpses. From everyone except captain.
• I love the cleverly concealed captain political propaganda. It sends a nice chalkboard-scratching shiver though the body every fifteen seconds.
• Great world unity touch. Malay guy with fake American accent in Australia/Malaystralia but knows tamil.
• Intermission rang in with a great punch translation off of Neeson's Taken. Of course captain will take out the 'Albanian international terrorist' the right way. With his eyes.
• Captain has an estimated 96 hours (from a reliable Tamilnaad police source) to save his niece before she is sold to Jabba the Hutt. Time to make a straight beeline to Malay fake accent guy.
• Next up, drop in on old crooked accomplice from Scotland Yard where they trained together. Who else but Arun Pandian.
• I like the awesome tamil (the most noble language in the world) touch all over the movie. Everyone including the Malay/Australian translator (speaks 46 languages) is more comfortable with tamil than any other language.
• 35 hours left. Looks like captain's still got a lot of punch dialogue in him left. Thappu seiyaravanga dhan da thappikanum.
• “I am from tamilnadu bolice”. “Naanum tamilnadu dhan saar”. Hard to watch captain hold back his paternal affection through his gentle investigation.
• More aascar winning dialogue - “Indha visiting card dhan en aayudham”.
• I just realized very late that this movie is actually an englipis movie dubbed to tamil with captain doing his own voice dubbing! Facepalm
• Captain breaks the villain boy with his englipis shock treatment. Hard to say if the current or the dialogue is doing the trick (Wonly you gan say goodlack? That goodlack has wonly begum yuvar bad lack).
• Final plot exposed: 'Albanian international terrorist' got this entire racket going because he's jealous that India has IPL and Issarrai. Indrresting.
• A dojen awesome gapten calisthenics later, Inshallah! Villain is defeat. Nobdy can rock the trenchgoat and glaus like gapten!

WOW! A sunday afternoon that I would have wasted on CTF correction, I have now spent productively. Recommended for all like minded individuals.

I have the need etc...etc.

So I was driving Srividya back to MCO this afternoon. I had the car cruising at 75 mph on the 70 mph limit I-75. 'Anjane' by Strings was playing on the speakers and we were taking in the pretty Florida wetland scenery. Suddenly, Mr. Know-it-all driver on a chromed-out metallic green suv, zipped into the extreme left lane right behind me. He waited about five whole seconds after which he cut into the middle lane with the deft skill of a seasoned freeway zipper and sped up to level with me. He then let out a shrill horn blare to let me know what he thought of me as he readied himself to gain velocity and leave me coughing in his awesomeness dust.

Exactly then I heard a familiar siren go off somewhere behind me with some all-american light effects. A green and white car with 'SHERIFF' displayed proudly on one side closed in right behind Mr. know's chrome monster. The latter slowed down as it crossed out much more respectfully to the extreme left part of the road with torn tyre bits on it. As I passed Mr. know, I vaguely caught him punching his steering wheel. I gave him my eastwoody smile, adjusted my glasses and continued to MCO at 75 mph.

Peace out.

Trippiness

Since I don't do drugs I did these today.



City of Blinding Lights - U2


Kula Shaker Govinda
Uploaded by ronaldmacdonald33. - See more comedy videos.

Govinda - Kula Shaker



Reptilia - The Strokes



Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins



Pottu vaitha - Singaravelan

Spread the word

Pro-style or spread offense?

The spread offense has been given this brash new upstart persona even though the concept has been around for close to a century. It could be because most of the teams that are emerging in recent years to national prominence are mostly employing some form of the spread. Or it could be because most opinions on a spread offense are at extreme ends - it either works wonders or fails miserably. Pro-style offensive systems are a lot less under fire with them being called dinosaurs at worst.

The incorrect use of the words spread and shotgun interchangeably can really be confusing. Though the basics of the spread offense starts at the offensive formation, it is not about how the snaps are taken. Both pro-style and spread offenses can be run out of the I-formation, the shotgun or what have you. A pro-style offense is about balance. It is about utilizing your talent to beat the opponent. Whether the QB takes the snap under center or in the shotgun, it is how he goes through his reads and picks the right receiver to pass to. It is about how the receivers' complicated yet complete route running skills are utilized. It is about how you play physical smash mouth football to beat the opponent. The focal point of a spread offense on the other hand is to create mismatches and open routes up for running or passing the ball.

A spread running offense primarily utilizes the read option to create mismatches either in size or speed. For success in that set, nimble speedy backs, big-sized pass catching tight ends and a quarterback who can also run the ball would be ideal. The 2009 Florida Gators team is a typical example of a spread run-first offense with speedy backs in Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey, a big sure-handed tight end in Aaron Hernandez and a running QB in Tim Tebow. A spread passing offense on the other hand focusses on using a stable talented receivers with a quick releasing and accurate QB. These offenses tend to create big passing numbers by beating the secondary with speed, size and sound catching ability. Most passes are quick and sometimes premeditated, before the pass rush gets to the QB. Most of the successful big 12 teams use this style but a typical example is the the 2007 and 2008 Texas Tech Red Raiders team with Michael Crabtree and Graham Harrell putting up some serious numbers.

A pro-style offense can also depend more on the run or passing ability based on personell and the nature of the defense. A typical run-based pro-style offense would be the 2009 Alabama Crimson Tide team which won the national championship despite only 58 passing yards in the game. The victory was all about the supremely talented Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson breaking through tackles and running straight through defenders. A typical pro-style passing offense would be the 2009 Notre Dame team with QB Jimmy Clausen, WRs Golden Tate and Michael Floyd and TE Kyle Rudolph. Clausen put up big passing numbers with Golden Tate winning a number of close games but the Irish defense failed to show up through the season.

The success of a spread offense would definitely depend on how good the players are and how effectively they suit the system but it also depends critically on how many mismatches are possible with a given defense. And because of that it is true to a certain extent that a primarily spread-based offense may not succeed as an NFL system. However the spread systems cannot be simply dismissed that way.

The reason for the feeling that a spread may have limited success in the NFL goes back to the original focal point of a spread offense. To create mismatches. Now a spread offense where Jeff Demps was faster, Hernandez was bigger and Tebow was more powerful than most defenders allowed the gator offense to sneak past most college defenses where many players are simply average quality or lesser but talent-loaded NFL teams with defenders that have Tebow's size and close to Demps' speed (the kid is really the fastest!) would not have a very hard time stopping at least Demps (Tebow is still more powerful) and handicapping the spread attack. This is evidenced by how the speed of Demps and Rainey were negated by top defenses like Alabama. A top-quality secondary with ball hawks like Troy Polamalu would make life extremely difficult for Graham Harrell or Colt Brennan's passing ability with both speed, size and power in the secondary. The bottom line is that there are few cracks in an NFL defense to exploit because they are made of the choicest players.

However still, there are a number of myths about spread offenses and spread offense players that are unnecessarily out there. For starters, there was a belief that talent in a spread offense, especially from a QB or WR spot does not translate to the NFL; the big numbers generated are simply side-effects of the system against bad defenses. While it is true that pro-style routes and progressions are very different from the spread, and some NFL teams may like players with experience in pro-style routes, it still does not negate the ability of a player to adapt to a new playing style. The top rookie receivers from the 2009 NFL draft - Jeremy Maclin, Michael Crabtree and Percy Harvin all came from spread offenses and had decent success with one of them even winning rookie of the year. Vince Young with his exceptional running and passing ability won similar honors in his rookie year and now is the starting QB for the Tennessee Titans. There are numerous such examples of non-prototypical players who have come through by sheer talent and ability. It was believed that Urban Meyer's spread experiment at Florida in 2005 would never work against SEC defenses. Suffice to say 5 years later that Urban's offenses are not doubted so much anymore.

So is a pro-style better than a spread offense? The 2009 Crimson Tide team after demolishing the Gators at the SEC championship would certainly like to claim so. But a match-up the previous year between more or less the same roster ended with a win for the spread-happy Gators. The 2009 Oregon Ducks offense was all over a well-rated USC Trojan defense while the acclaimed Trojan offense with Damien Williams, Joe McKnight and Allen Bradford could barely get within 30 points of the Ducks. The plays are call to the players strengths but it is who played well on that day and made the catches, tackles and runs.

A match-up of different playing styles only creates intrigue and nothing more. Whether you run the pro-style, the west coast, the run-option, the air-raid, the triple threat, the run and shoot, the wildcat or simply mix it up, make sure you bring your best on gameday because that is all that matters.

"All the same"

Amongst a dozen other things, sensitivity fail.

"This is my daughter...from the US." "Oh my son-in-law too..."

A year ago, I had made a post confirming my revulsion with the induced overt-awe of an academic degree. Obviously there was more to the matter than what I picked up naively back then.

--

I had settled on the bean-bag after a power lunch to watch a matinee telecast of 'Veerasamy' on KTV with a bowl of jelly and a cold glass of mango juice in attire that would make Mahatma Gandhi proud. Mom and dad left to see someone and Pammi decided to give up on stealing the remote and retired for the afternoon. The bell rang A middle-aged couple with their smatter-stache tall-than-me high school son showed up to see the apartment we planned to rent out. I was a bit twitched about being interrupted but tiwo had finally made it to Tata Sky cable so I led them towards the apartment, remote in hand.

"Hi, I am buzz-buzz-blah", said the gentleman as he shook my bony hand and took notice of my skinny build. His wife nodded and his son looked away. I lead them to the apartment and told them to feel free to look around as I parked on the sawdust-layered kitchen counter. The mom examined the apartment in great detail as they noted each point and nodded to herself and looked to the head of the house for his approval grunt. The son occasionally did a slight dance with his feet and said something to his dad, all the time looking at the ceiling. My saw-dust house sketch was nearly complete when the gentleman walked over to me and asked me, "Are there any elders in the house?".

To this day, I have always had the distinct privilege of receiving a semi-dismissive comment on my age and how it poorly fits my current degree of study when my parents introduce me to someone they know. But even as a hardened player, I was not happy about getting that from Mr. Buzz. I reached for my beard to stroke it but I realized that it had been discarded, in part to help me resemble my passport photo. Nevertheless, I was a 25-year old and I was going to stand up for myself.

"You can talk to me, I own this place" I said. Maybe I had over said something there in my moment of irritation. But I was still going to stick with it. I did not call you balding Mr. Buzz, even though I noticed it before I shook your hand.

But Mr. Buzz was not convinced at all. He still had control on the conversation. So he took a deep breath and let it out loudly and responded, " what is the rent?"

"We quoted it on the newspaper ad", I responded coolly.

Mr. Buzz gave a sly smile perfected by the average Indian negotiator and started, " I know but what is THE rent? See, basically I am from Mumbai. I have been living there for 20 years. I lived in Juhu. You know, Juhu beach? It is a posh area. We had a proper society apartment with amenities like a swimming pool and a club house. Even there I only paid 28,000."

A number of thoughts swam in my head. Alright Mr. Buzz. You have just knowingly or unknowingly, in perfect Indian fashion, thrown some mud on my ancestral home that we all blindly loved. Generations of our dogs have marked their ownership of this place with so much uric acid that it would fill your swimming pool a dozen times. The colony that you have somehow found your way to, is an equivalent to Pali Hill or Malabar Hill in Mumbai. And Juhu is NOT a posh area.

I gave a tired smile and responded, "Just tell me how much you wish to pay".

"Thirty thousand." He had read my expression and was now losing some of his confidence.

"Alright. Just give me your number. I have your name and your quote. If we decide to negotiate on the rent, we will get back to you." Mr. Buzz was visibly displeased with how he had to do this routine with a cold little skinny kid but I was the oldest person he was going to meet that afternoon. He said, "Ok" with a grunt towards the end and started heading out as the rest of the family shuffled after him slowly. I retured to the bean bag to continue what was left of my afternoon.

--

Four hours later, the phone bell rang as I just returned home from walking Scoobie. I picked it up,

"Good Evening."

"Uh. Hello?"

"Yes please?"

"Hi. My name is Mr. Buzz. I had come to see an apartment this afternoon."

"Yes Mr. Buzz. Tell me."

"Uh. Are there any elders around?"

I handed the phone to my father without a response and sped off to the kitchen to report to my mom on the caller. Dad joined us in a few seconds, "He is coming over to see us. Wear a shirt Harish."

I had stopped arguing with my parents a couple of years ago. I walked to my closet and returned in a t-shirt that misspelt New York and Brazil and had a tea stain on it. Mom and dad exchanged a glance but said nothing.

--

I was revising our photo album for the nth time. Scoobie and I had retired to my bedroom for similar reasons. Mr. Buzz had been sitting with dad and mom for the last half hour and judging from the level of noise and the topic of conversation, it was clear that they had hit it off well. The phone rang.

Mom answered, "Harish. Its Abi for you."

I cursed and sped out to pick the phone up and bring it back to my room. But mom had picked up the dusty, abandoned supply phone that could only be used the old fashioned way.

One ten-second phone call later, I quietly tried to slink away, when dad turned to me, "Harish...This is my son Harish. He is studying in the US too."

"Oh.."

That was a chorus by both Mr. and Mrs. Buzz. Mrs. Buzz's expression turned from shock to one that reassured her that all the kids of these days end up there anyway and it was nothing special. Mr Buzz's expression turned from genuine shock to a substantial regret that dripped from his expression as he nearly dropped the dry snack he was holding. Sonny boy kept looking out the window at our neighbor's abandoned old garage.

--

Amongst other things that can be concluded from this post, I think now that it may have been interesting to rewind the evening situation to change what my dad said to, "This is my son Harish. He is pursuing a doctoral degree." I guarantee a lesser shock. It think it can sometimes be a bigger social deal to be elementary schooler in the USA rather than a graduate degree holder in India.

"Have you no ambition? Don't you want to study well, go abroad and make your country proud?"

-some nameless R.K. Laxman cartoon.