The Photographic Society of Madras will commemorate its 150th anniversary with an exhibition of photographs to be held from September 17th to 21, 2008 at Lalit Kala Academy, Greames Road, Chennai.

ticketnew.com, most people would or might not have heard about this website.

Started in 2007 this website has the list of favourite shows happening in Chennai. We can look for upcoming movies, drama’s, musical shows and even sports. For now, these people have tie up only with Abirami theatre but they are bound to expand. Couple of months back i booked a musical event show of mastero online and they were kind enough to give me an option of collecting the tickets at the enterance or mailing the tickets, i choose the second option and i would say they had good customer service as they called me the next day to get feedback on their service.

All though we are in Chennai we hardly come to know about the events, drama’s and musical fest happening in the city so I find this website more interesting to register and book online and have a unlimited fun and enjoyment. Have a sneak peak asap!

If you think IT and software professionals think nothing but computers all through the day; here is some “play” for thought, well for those of you who don’t know - presenting Rebelz, a Chennai based English theatre group started by IT professionals was out with their fourth production last Saturday and Sunday(26/27th) at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium in Mylapore.

The show was not the usual kinds, which we see in Chennai theatre, it was a dated spoof on Arabia, a la Alibaba, Aladdin types.

There is trouble in the ancient Arabian kingdom of Petra, where the main characters of the play, Ali (Ashwin) is the handsome peasant deeply in love with the voice of a song he heard in the palace and his brother Sinkbath (Bharath) the bumbling sailor who owns a ’ship of the desert’, a camel named Humpy and not a ship!

The Director Harish, performed a cameo which was a totally unexpected character, school boy genie, right after the interval. Imagine a genie dressed in school boy clothes, well all is fair in spoof’s and it was really a funny performance by him.

The play had a happy ending when the pairs find their match and all’s well ends well. Music was scored by SAE School, was a nice hear. Arabian backdrops, costumes and music makes a little complex play compared to their other ones. The show had it all, from skeleton dance to bumbling guard, arabian dance and lots more.

Err Im not advertising for them, even though I happen to be the PR of the group, but if you want to join Rebelz, check us at www.rebelz.in

12 years after Madras was rechristened to Chennai, we still find people (including yours truly) who have changed for the most part to using Chennai in formal/informal, oral/written communication forms. But every now and then, analogical to the unstoppable urge to use our mother tongue, we use the word Madras.

There are a lot of things Madras. What I am about to talk about here in Madras String Quartet. Led by VS Narasimhan and joined by several artists at different points in time, this is one of the finest quartet style orchestras aimed at bringing harmony between Western Classical Music and Carnatic Music.

If you will, please try the album Resonance by MSQ. It’s a treat to listen to.

Chennai based ophthalmologist Dr Gayathri Sreekanth has hit a gold mine that every Tamil film fan would give an arm and a leg for…. Turning the official biographer of Superstar Rajnikant. Her book “The name is Rajnikanth” was released last week..
She looks like a college kid when I meet her at her residence in T Nagar, but she tells me she is a mother of two. From prescriptions to penning Rajni’s official bio is a bit of a change in script I tell her, and she laughs.

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Well, this might be a tad late for this now, but some one please tell me the best name that Chennaiites could conjure up in a naming contest for their own IPL team is "Chennai Super Kings"?

Really?

"Super" Kings?

My wife does not watch cricket and I asked her what was the first thing that came to her mind when she heard the name "Chennai Super Kings", and with absolutely no hesitation, she said "Cigarettes". Like Wills Filter Kings.

Of course, on the other hand, at least Mr Jumaani didn’t make this one "Superr Kiings".

But still, "Super Kings"?

I mean, Chennai Gadjee Kings sounds better. Or perhaps they should have paid tribute to the brilliant ad campaign of the successful Chennai Superstars and named this team Chennai Jujubees.

Or Chennai Macchis

Or even something to sporty like Chennai Killadis

What do you think?

FM in Chennai is a stillborn child. I listen in at all hours and with unfailing regularity get morons on air. Unlike TV, FM can easily go niche. Here’s some things I rarely or never find on radio.

1. Name of movie, singers, composer
2. Talking about the background, popularity of songs
3. In the case of old songs, a little of history
4. Intelligent conversation
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I recently caught a re-run of Evam’s Art. Its their first production, and supposedly their favorite. The story is pretty simple. Three friends, Mark, Sarge and Ivan, are there. Sarge blows an obnoxious sum of money on a piece of modern art. Like most commonfolk, Mark cannot appreciate the painting, and has issues with Sarge blowing money on it. In the middle of the conflict is Ivan who is getting married soon. The play is about how these three have their relationship defined by this painting.
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Chennai based Pixelkraft Media Solutions has produced RamandRia.tv, claimed to be India’s first internet Sitcom. The storyline is light and easy, about a hard core South Indian Techie Ram and a cosmopolitan gal from Mumbai, Ria falling in love and getting married before realising the culture shocks that await them. I saw the first few episodes, nothing great, but a good attempt.

More than the content, it is the media that is interesting. Professionally produced content for Internet is scarce, and this is a welcome break. Get ready for the day when the cry-a-ton Tamil serials will invade your computer screens too.

Last Friday I decided to watch ‘Moonshine and Skytoffee’ which was a part of the celebrating 100 years of Basheer festival. The festival for some reason which I am unaware of is called ‘Under the Mangoostan Tree’.

The play was in the museum theatre, Egmore, which has lovely acoustics and not to mention the charming Victorian architecture. The play was a mix of two stories by Basheer, one is Love Letters, and the other story’s name, I sadly do not remember.
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