The Circus comes to town

The teams are equally matched, 

The margins of victory slender; 

The game veers this way and that, 

And then goes one way or the other! 

But yet we pin our hopes too much, 

On slender momentary wins; 

The fights and wins we lack in our lives, 

We seek vicariously in them! 

Too much elation on victory, 

End of the world on a defeat; 

This too shall pass; and once again, 

One turn into the other! 

Our self esteem has been outsourced,

To fickle momentary events; 

To gladiators in a Circus,

Paid to fight and die for us! 

So much of me has been invested,

On someone, somewhere, outside control; 

Like those rides in a carnival, 

I am screaming, passive, and belted! 

And then I totter to the next; 

One draining ride after another; 

One day wonder where all the days went, 

I'm spent, with nothing to show for them! 

Generative AI

This is extremely scary. 

Computers exploded on the scene after the 90's. That's well within our adult lifetime, thirty years back. Mobile phones, internet, high speed computing, connectivity, ditto.

Coders were in high demand, they still are presumably. 

But now the computer is going to write all the code, generate all the music, write all the articles, suggest all the remedies, and pretty much do everything that we humans prided ourselves in doing. It's called generative AI. 

What is the skill required in this new era from those who operate the computers? Prompt engineering! Like "delivery partners", a fancy term to glamorise a humdrum occupation. 

Prompt engineering is the skill of how to ask questions to the computer. The computer knows all the answers, the computer is God, the computer will answer you properly provided you ask nicely. Presumably, prostrating or kneeling down in front of it with hands folded while asking the question. 

Meanwhile, they will develop another computer, or Generative AI engine, to ask the right questions. 

Then this computer will talk to that computer. And together, between them, they will have all the questions and all the answers. 

We will be on our knees in front of the  computer, begging it to tell us the answers. 

The future awaits.

Review of Kalki

Watched Kalki today on IMAX 2D. 

Indian mythology meets dystopian world meets Marvel Superheroes meets Star Wars meets Mad Max meets VFX. 

After Bahubali and RRR, you thought these Telugu guys have already reached the top in over the top entertainers but no, this one is beyond those two. When I say over the top I mean it in a complimentary way. After this fare, you will find other films insipid. 

Kamalahasan as Supreme Yaskin the villain, Amitabh as Aswatthama, Prabhas as Karna reborn with multiple shades to his character, Deepika as the heroine in whose womb the Lord ( Krishna of course) will be reborn as Kalki, who will come to save the world. And Amitabh as always, steals the show, I just don't know what it is that gives him that screen presence! 

The movie, a full three hours long, only manages to build this alternate universe , in preparation for the sequels to come. 

As the Telugus will say to those Marvel folks "meeru yovvaru ra, superhero movie Ela ceyalo memu meeku chuputhamu! ... Jeragandi , maa samayam vacchindi!!"

( Subtitle: who are you guys? We will show you how to make superhero movies! Move aside! Our time has come!!) 

It's difficult to make out where the live shots end and the VFX takes over, the entire experience is one big extravaganza. 

Made with a budget of 600 crores, not even a week has passed since release, I  believe it has already recovered most of the money. 

On a Monday afternoon there were hardly any seats empty. We will get to see this film become a mega hit in India and outside. 

Watch it in Telugu ( there are English subtitles), over the top plots somehow go well with Telugu, on the big screen, preferably on IMAX 2D.

The Decline of the School System

Quote

" The New IPL in India*

I am teaching a girl Class 12 Macroeconomics

She is studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya and essentially *knows NOTHING*

*NO CLUE on the 1/2 base height formula of area if a triangle, 

Cannot even identify where Sri Lanka is on the world map, no idea on the state capitals and capitals of our neighboring nations*

*LITERACY IS A FARCE IN INDIA, THE LAND OF THE VEDAS*

 

"Unquote 

👆 message from a friend and batchmate just now. 

I find this to be increasingly true. Parents are sending their children to posher and posher schools, spending more and more money, and their children are getting more and more marks. 

But the children are learning less and less. Most children of today know essentially very little of what is covered in their own standard school curriculums.

I have been making a case for pulling the children out of school and shifting to home tuition. One of the reasons is this. 

The other reason is that school systems, like any organised system, exists to ensure the survival of the other stakeholders, like the teachers. The needs of the primary stakeholder , the child, are irrelevant. 

One diabolical manifestation of this is the complete takeover of American schools by the woke virus, and the consequent teaching of damaging trash to the kids, who are getting brainwashed into being walking talking confused zombies. This includes colleges too, not just primary schools and high schools. 

Observe what is really happening in the name of education. Brutally and logically evaluate how much your own child is learning. 

And be afraid.

Review of Chilli Chicken

Just saw the Kannada movie "Chilli Chicken" at PVR at Bhartiya City. 

A slice of the life of migrants from the north east, a slice of the city of Bangalore, or the story of migrants anywhere...  It could be called any of these. The movie is based on the story of these migrants who are employed in a Bangalore restaurant. The language in the movie shifts between Kannada and  Manipuri, hence the need for subtitles which are there. 

The movie has a story line that keeps you gripped throughout. There are no famous stars here, but all the actors give convincing performances. 

At times it has the feel of a Noir movie, with its surprising twists in the plot, and an accidental murder woven into the story. The background music and songs are  good too. 

It also brings out a social message, about how all of us treat outsiders, in a subtle way, woven into the plot and the dialogue.

The cinematography is good and the editing is slick - it kept me engaged throughout wanting to know what comes next. 

In terms of overall mix of elements, I would think it comes closest to Lapata Ladies, though the plots of the two films have nothing in common. 

It is obviously not a big budget production but the whole thing has coalesced into a great finished product. A lot of credit for this must go the Director, Prateek. This his first film but it certainly doesn't feel like it. Very impressive effort - Prateek is set to go places in the industry. 

*The Director Prateek Prajosh lives in our Layout