Hey Guys… As always i checked the Google PageRank of my Site today Morning…

And was surprised to find that the PR of this Site was 1…

What was even more Surprising is that my www.rvivekshanmugam.wordpress.com site is now having a PR of 4, surprising coz i stopped posting in that site long back!!!

Well… Now that the PR is 1… Lets stop and celebrate this now!

There’s More to Come yet! Keep Watching this Space!

I Got a Call from Liqwid Krystal a half an hour back! For starters, Liqwid krystal is a group of ppl who conduct E-Training on Comp Programming Fundamentals for Corporates. And right now they’re doing that for Infosys

A lady called in and asked me, ‘Are you Shan, the Owner of a community in Orkut in which the answers for the Online Test conducted by them, are being shared!

Me ‘Answers being shared! Really?! I never knew. I just started the comm and never even had time to check all thats happening in the comm!’

She ‘Well, you are not supposed to do that and this could seriously affect your joining’

Me ‘Kya?!’

She ‘Yes. Your IP address are being tracked and blah blah’

Me ‘Okay what am i supposed to do now?!’

She ‘Delete the comm and make sure this doesnt happen again’

Me ‘Okay fine!’

Call Ended.

Came back Online and the other guys in the comm started scrapping/pinging me saying they too got the call. Now delete it plz! Well… Okay, for the welfare of all the guys n gals in the comm! Am deleting the comm!

Jus’ wanted to Ask these LK ppl, ‘come on man.. By deleting a comm how can u make sure the answers are not being shared. If people want to share answers they can do that by any means… There are less popular social networking sites, chat rooms, e-mails, cell phone, and they can directly see each other and exchange answers in the old fashioned way. How will you stop those kind of people!’

Yesterday, I saw the Movie ‘Poi Solla Porom’ with my Family. Thankfully all the Movies that I watched this week were Good! Poi Solla Porom has an unique theme and is pleasantly delivered. Here’s a Review of the Movie.

The film opens with Sathyanathan (Nedumudi Venu) dreaming about his irony death and his family members are not paying any attention to the situations. The irony is that nobody cares about his death; instead his children & neighbors are more interested in their materialistic needs. His elder son Uppilinathan aka Uppi/Uccha (Karthik) is a Software Engineer, who plans to go abroad for work. His younger son Viswanathan aka Viccha (Om) is a carefree youth, leading a happy life.

Sathyanathan invests all his earnings in a plot of land near Velachery. A real estate dealer (Haneefa) cons them with the backing of the land shark Baby (Nassar), who grabs the plot and claims that he has documents to prove it as his own.

All attempts by Sathyanathan to get back the land end in vain. The Police, Lawyers, Ministers and even the NGOs demand money to help them. And thats the Truth these Days. The younger son brings in Rowdies headed by Royapuram Terror to get back the land. As soon as i heard the name Royapuram Terror, i could not control my laughter. My Sutherland Friends who are reading this blog will understand! A Friend of Mine in Sutherland is a real Royapuram Terror and as soon as i heard that Rowdy telling the name Royapuram Terror only his face came in front of me! And that’s Karthigaram from Pachaiyapas! Well back to the story… All Attempts fail and then Uppilinathan steps in to get back the land.

With the help of his friend Amritha (Piya/Suchitra’s Voice) he enacts a drama featuring Mouli whom everyone calls Daddy. Uppili is aided by his visa agent Asif (Bosskey) - a former accomplice of Baby. And thereby they win back their lost properties, which forms the rest of the story.

It’s great fun fare, but the film moves slowly in the first half and warms up only towards the rip-roaring climax. The realism in the situation and humor of PSP easily strikes a chord.. Though the tit-for-tat solution is not realistic enough, you cant grudge it simply because you can’t get hardcore realistic in the cinematic format while trying to find a solution for land usurping cases.

Karthik, Om and also RJ Balaji score with their natural performances. The Scenes where RJ Balaji chases off the Guys from the Fisheries Department, was really very funny! Piya hasn’t got much to perform, but with her cute looks, she is sure to attract everyone. And I think i have seen her in some ads before. Was that a Mysore Sandal Soap Ad?! Mouli, Nasser and Nedumudi Venu - these versatile actors bring the entire spotlights under them. Songs aren’t so appealing for they go along with the story.

On the whole, Poi Solla Porom is a great and clean entertainer. Watch it without expectations and you will like it for sure.

Yea!!!!!! I got my TOEFL Scores…

And this Excitement is coz i was expecting some horrible scores in 90s or something like that, but Thank God that didnt happen…

Especially after finishing the Test i was very disappointed with the way i did the Speaking Part of the Test… I was completely unprepared for the test at that time. I didnt take any mock tests. Coz everything happened suddenly.

I booked for the test jus before a week. The Test was scheduled for 24th August 2008. No seats in Chennai, so i booked the Test in Trichy. And since i was working at Suth i didnt even get time to study! I bunked! Office took a Pallavan Express Train to Trichy the day before the exam. Ma brother came to pick me up and we went to our Athai’s Home. The next day i went to the Testing Centre well ahead of the scheduled time. Started the Test. I was confident at the beginning of the Test, i.e. during the Reading and Listening Part. Then came the Speaking Part… I did it… But not well enough to get a good score. After finishing the speaking part i wished i could have prepared somewhat better. Then came the writing part, i did okay in it. And when i left the centre, i was very disappointed with myself. I even thought of giving the test again. Anyway katham katham! Cant change whatever has happened. Enna thaan Nadakum Nadakatume! (Sema dialog. I like this dialog very much!) I then took a bus and came back to chennai!

Like i said, i was not happy with my performance. I had a fear that i would get very less marks. But deep inside, i wished i get some good score, something decent enough. I entirely forgot about TOEFL and was lazing around the house when mom called me and said its been long enough since you gave TOEFL. Go check your scores. Well, i said okay and I opened up the TOEFL Site and was surprised to see that the scores were available. I immediately clicked on “Show Scores” and lo… I got 111…! Surprising… Really Surprising!

29 in Reading and Listening… 30 in writing… 23 in Speaking…

The least in Speaking (I knew that before! )

A 111 out of 120 i believe is a decent enough score… But, i really dont know how much TOEFL Scores Universities Expect and why they need these scores for! If you know, do share it with me!

The guys are enjoying the road trip but fate plays spoilsport; midway to Hyderabad, they are caught in a traffic hold up. It will be hours before the traffic will clear, and the boys decide they may as well get back to Chennai, so they’ll at least have a chance to catch the match on TV. But Ajay has a brilliant idea. He takes a detour – a small, rugged path that barely qualifies as a road, calling it a ‘shortcut to Hyderabad’. By nightfall, the guys are lost and find themselves in the midst of an abandoned industrial estate. Over there, they find something mysterious happening there and it more horrific for them when a police officer is murdered by group of unknown people murdered. However, they escape from the place without any troubles and while they are yet to catch a goods train that is running by the place, Jagathpathy Babu realizes that he has dropped his purse over there that carries his identity card and all his details. With no option left, all of them return to the same place and find that a girl has been tied there and it is none other than Saroja. Well, they get her freed and run together outside fighting against the baddies. But things aren’t so simple as they expected. Again starts a roller coaster ride of thriller with unexpected twists and turns.

The Movie was completely enjoyable with lots of funny scenes. I wonder why in Tamil Cinema, even actors who are a few films old, do not want to act in a multi-starrer film. Its so fun watching a bunch of guys, instead of one single ilayathalapathi or ultimate star. I was kinda bored watching these stars repeating their commercial formula. And after Chennai 600028 and SAROJA am expecting a string of Multi-Starrers in Kollywood!

The Song at RJ Shiva’s engagement Party reminded us of Om Shanti Om, but it would have been great if it were popular Kollywood Actors instead of the TV Serial Actors. And almost all the actors in Chennai 600028 appeared in guest roles. The Actor Jai who appeared in the Traffic hold up, speaking in English and then Local Tamil was very funny and best among the guest roles. The Fight scenes were realistic and believable. The TV Serial mockery in which RJ Shiva gets introduced was funny. Premji’s amusing face, the foolish air he sports and the timing and chicness of his dialogues made all the scenes in which he appears, funny and entertaining. I almost fell off my seat when he said I was cornered, I was helpless!

Certainly there were pace dropping moments, shots that lacked editing slickness. And i couldnt understand why the friends called each other sir/saar! That was Odd! But I guess I can’t complain after having sat on the edge of my seat and having fallen off (almost literally) every time these men next door delivered punch dialogues!!!

Yuvan Shankar Raja’s Music Score was Cool. Though the songs were unnecessary, they were good. The Lyrics of the song ‘Nimirnthu Nil’ was rejuvenating. ‘Cheeky Cheeky’ and ‘Dosth Bada Dosth’The Background Score was superb i would say. I loved the BGM when the baddies drive in with the black jeep.

SAROJA was like watching a Hollywood Movie with local Flavor. You would surely Enjoy the Movie! Especially, with all the laughs and thrills and the Timing Comedy! A thumbs Up for the Movie SAROJA… And Venkat Prabhu, am expecting ur next Movie!

Pixar is one of the best animation film studio in the business. This company simply doesn’t know how to make anything less than excellence. Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc, Ratatouille, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Cars… Man, all brilliant movies… So whenever a new Pixar film is in development, it instantly gets my attention, and Wall-E was no exception to that rule.

When i stepped into the cinema hall, my expectations were skyhigh and i’m happy to say that this movie lived up to its hype and my expectations.

The new short “Presto” that precedes the movie is fantastic. I about an arrogant magician and his hungry rabbit. The entire audience was roaring with laughter by the end.

Wall-E opens with a what seems like Earth as it is now, only with lots of trash floating around the stratosphere. The year is 2700, and planet Earth has long been uninhabitable. On closer observation, the skyscrapers that we see, are actually towers of compact trash cubes stacked together by WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class). This little robot was left behind along with plenty others of his kind but he seems to be the only one “alive” (along with his pet cockroach). All the people in the world (assuming) are up in a Noah’s Ark of sort, called the Axiom, roaming up in outer space awaiting the day that Earth is cleared of rubbish by WALL-Es.

The Hero of our Movie, the last Wall-E spends his lonely hours sifting through garbage to collect items of interest, compacting garbage, and storing it in cubes. He collects remnants of humanity to keep for his own amusement. Zippo lighters, Bubble Sheets, Rubik’s Cubes, Christmas lights: these are what Wall-E surrounds himself with. He watches Hello, Dolly! on an iPod that he somehow hooked up to a VCR, emulating the dancing and learning about love.  When you see Wall-E try to imitate the dancing using a hub cap he collected just for that purpose, you know that this is more than a piece of machinery. Proving Pixar’s raison d’etre, this little silent robot has more humanity in him than most movie characters played by actual humans. WALL-E is one of the cutest Pixar hero ever, despite the fact that he’s a trash compactor with eyes. A story centering on a wordless robot could be cold and uninviting, but not in Pixar’s capable hands. Never has a robot been this compassionate: WALL-E’s got heart. And that makes his so lovable!

Things change drastically for WALL-E the day EVE shows up. She is slick and futuristic and quite obviously a girl; WALL-E falls in love almost immediately. It turns out EVE has been sent from the Axiom to scan the earth for signs of habitable life. Their convincing courtship is done completely without dialogue, quite a feat for sound designer Ben Burtt who found a way to make ambient noise into recognizable words for WALL-E. Trying to impress the cooly modern EVE, WALL-E shows her the seedling he found, at which point EVE goes into a hibernation state and awaits the return of her spaceship. WALL-E, of course, cannot abide by his beloved EVE’s status and hitches a ride into space to save her. And, thus begins the story. At the end of which Wall-E saves the Earth and Humans!

A bit disturbingly, all the humans on the Axiom have regressed to babyhood (enormously fat, with little bone density) after 700 years of living up in space and drinking their meals through a straw. Though WALL-E’s only aim on the Axiom is to find his beloved EVE, he finds himself wrapped up in a race to save the seedling he collected on earth from the treacherous tentacles of Auto.

When your two main characters (Wall-E and EVE) have about 90% of the screen time, and each basically only ever say “Wall-E” or “Eva”, the burden for storytelling falls onto the shoulders of the character performances (animation) and the art of visual storytelling. Wall-E communicates worlds of information to the audience without ever saying a word just by how perfectly and beautifully he’s animated. His movements, his expression and his very nature are the tools by which this story is told without the use of words (there is dialog in the film from some other characters… but the majority of the movie is told by just watching and experiencing Wall-E himself).

While on the surface it’s a movie about robots and spaceships set centuries in the future, deep down it’s about humanity and its place on Earth and in the universe. It uses its out-of-this-world settings and characters as a lens to reflect our own world back at us, showing us both the beauty and the ugliness of our existence through the eyes of a guileless, trash-compacting robot. Wall-E is worth your every rupee. It is funny in ways that are actually bittersweet, reminding us of our sad fate in time to come if we stop doing anything about pollution, global warming and all that nonsense that will eventually turn Earth into an uninhabitable sphere of trash.

Andrew Stanton, who won an Oscar in 2004 for Finding Nemo, with WALL-E, he has taken not only the art of animation, but the art of storytelling to new, unimaginable heights.

In a movie season that’s overpopulated with superhero movies, remakes and sequels, it’s incredibly refreshing to see a movie that stands on its own as a completely new and unique creation. You wud’ve never seen anything like Wall-E, and you might not see anything like it again. Go. Go see it as soon as you can.

Yea… I went to the Movie SAROJA Yesterday… I had actually decided to go to the Movie WALL-E along with Naveen. But, Naveen cancelled the plan coz he had some other work. And as soon as i got this information from Naveen, I got a Call from Kanthi calling me for the Movie SAROJA. His Colleagues had 5 tickets with them and 3 of the guys in their gang backed out, so he asked me whether we(Kanthi, Me and Hari) could go the Movie?

I agreed… coz i heard the Movie was kinda interesting and funny and its been a long time since i met Kanthi and Hari. We went to the 3.15pm show. I didnt go to Office(which i decided the day before itself, enna aanaalum Office porathu illenu!) I gave a story to Sripadharajan and asked him to exaggerate a bit and tell that to our TL Deepak. He’s really good at that and moreover he has a good name and anyone will believe whatever he says! (Nalla paiyan maathiriye effect kuduthu vachuirukan!)

And then i went to Sathyam Cinemas, where Kanthi and Hari were waiting for me. We had a Gala Time. Its really very funny to watch any Movie with ma college friends… It doesnt matter whether its really a damn boring Movie or Good One… Mainly due to the funny comments and actions that we together make at a time when everyone in the Cinema Hall is Silent! The had a lot of Timing Comedy. A Good Movie, after a long time in Tamil. I’d surely recommend U Guys to watch the Movie!

And after show, i booked two tickets for the Movie Wall-E, today’s show for Myself and Naveen… And this was the first time i used my card to buy movie tickets!

Then, i took the bike from the parking lot and came out of the theatre and was standing infront of Sathyam Cinemas and talking to my friends, when a Traffic Police came and asked me to move. We moved a little and then we were deeply involved in a conversation when that Policeman came back and took the bike key. Though i got back the bike without paying any money this time, he wasted my precious precious time! I’ll tell abt this incident in a different post. Intha Mamas pathi neriya sollanum!

I’m going to watch Wall-E today. Have to leave home after finishing this post! I had been eager to watch this movie for the past few weeks… But, either Me or Naveen kept on postponing the plan for some reason or the other. Finally we’re going to watch it today… Will write a Review of both SAROJA and WALL-E soon. Keep checking this blog for the Review! PS: Spoilers will be there, coz i cant resist giving that away!

Yea… This is what i was thinking about all these days…

At least now, i have found an answer! Am Not Quitting this Job until i change my mind again!

After thinking over it Day In and Day Out, i found that my reasons for Not Quitting out weighed the reasons for Quitting. I was actually thinking of quitting last week. Well, it cud have been because i had fever last week and was very tired and exhausted. I found the job to be too tiring. And that maybe because i was new to everything. Now, that i got used to it, i have a different view on all that. I feel like how stupid i was to think of quitting all those silly reasons.

These days its so cool to take calls. I have got used to the tools and softwares that i am supposed to use on calls and the irate customers no longer bother me. I jus’ escalate the call to my supervisor and enjoy them listening to whatever dash the customers say. I look at my supervisor when he’s taking the sup call and say “Why Blood?! Yea… Same Blood!”

If i Quit i will be Happy for a Week or two and again i start getting bored of doing nothing or tired of roaming out with friends. And it does not sound good or even worse |very much embarrassing| to say ‘I am sitting at home after finishing my BE/Waiting for DoJ’ when someone asks me ‘What U doin’ these days?!’

And i feel that it will give you some kind of secured feeling. That you belong to some group. And i sure can do something with the Money i earn rather than being at home and asking for money from my parents every time i go out of house.

After considering all these things, i have decided to stay put for some more time…! Until i change my mind again!

We started taking Calls right from Day 1…!

I didnt expect that!!! I thought they were joking! Come on man… Do U mean, Real US Customers?! And we are going to solve their issues?! What about the Quality Parameters? Quality of Support?! And all other Parameters?! But No… They werent Joking! Our TL said, dont worry guys, this is a kinda practice for you… Dont worry about quality parameters, just go on and take calls… Wel, Okay! I rehearsed my script and then i went on to take my first real call… Poor Customer!

A Lady called in with a Fax Problem! (Hey… Whats this! They didnt teach us about any Fax issues in Training!!!) After Greeting the customer exactly as in the Opening Script! I went on to collect the details like First Name/Last Name, Phone Number and Service Tag of the Printer! We had to Alpha Verify the Name for Spelling Errors! I started… Lemme verify ur Name ma’am… (read this slowly) A as in Alpha, B as in Bravo, C as in Charlie and so on… I didnt memorize that at that time! I was searching my empty brain for the correct word! As soon as i finished Alpha Verifying her name… She asked me, “Are you in Training?!” Me: Hey, How did she find that out? Again Me: By the way U spoke to her, dumbo!!! U shud’ve been more confident! She: “I want to speak to someone who is not in Training or to a Supervisor.”

I called in my TL and gave the phone to him! He went on and solved the Problem for her. It took him 45mins for him! I wondered, if that issue took 45minutes for an expert, guess how much time i wud have taken!

And then, i took another Call… That was a transfer Call and i had to Transfer it to another Department… This time, the Customer didnt find out that i was in Training…! Thank Goodness! And i transferred it successfully… Well, actually I Though So! Until i found out that i didnt get any details from the customer or log a case in the DELL Tool!! That was again a failed call!

After some time, our TL called all of us and asked us to pair up with someone and take calls. One person will speak to the customer, and other will help him/her find a solution and log a case in DELL Tools! This time around i was more confident and the remaining calls i took that day were kinda okay!