AJITH in remake of RACE

Ajith's passion for motorbike racing is widely known. He took part in many motor racing championships and carved a niche for himself.

The actor, who bid adieu to car races a couple of years ago, is now getting ready to act in the Tamil remake of Hindi blockbuster 'Race'.

According to sources, Ashok Amritraj who produced Shankar's film 'Jeans' has approached Ajith with this offer. 'Race' is about two brothers played by Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Khanna double crossing each other which eventually leads to their downfall.

Attracted by the storyline, Ajith has expressed his consent to act in the film. Meanwhile, 'Aegan', the next venture of Ajith is also a remake of the Bollywood super hit movie Main Hoon Naa. 'Aegan' is nearing its completion.

Sunny n Viru part of World XI

Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag are the only Indians to figure in a World XI selected by The Times writers .

While Gavaskar is picked by the celebrated Christopher Martin-Jenkins for being "pure technical close-to-perfection," Alan Lee and John Woodcock second him, the latter describing Sunny as a "wonderful player".

"He was a wonderful, wonderful player. How could I leave him out?" says Woodcock.

Meanwhile, Mike Artherton picked Sehwag in his squad.

The writers seem to be confused regarding the inclusion of Sachin Tendulkar in their list.

However, in the most of the lists there is a certain similarity.

Sir Don Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Barry Richards, Sir Viv Richards , Gordon Greenidge, Graham Gooch, Saeed Anwar, Adam Gilchrist , Ray Lindwall, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Dennis Lillee and Richard Hadlee are few of the more likely entries in the list.

There's also a certain unanimity regarding the captain -- most zero down to Shane Warne , describing him as the best captain Australia never had.

Interesting Quotes

"If you can't be a good example -- then you'll just have to be a horrible warning'

"I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it." - Jonathan Winters

"Success will win you false friends and true enemies - succeed anyway." - Mother Teresa


"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless" - Mother Teresa

"There are two ways to live your life: One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle" Albert Einstein

"It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it." Somerset Maugham

"If women didn't exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning." - Aristotle Onassi

"I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early." Charles Lamb

"I've been on a calendar, but I've never been on time." - Marilyn Munroe

"Marriage is a romance in which the hero dies in the first chapter."

chris fletcher (Kamal) , a copy of Marv (Mickey Rourke)

The characterization and the macho look of Fletcher has been inspired by the villain of Sin City, Marv. All the killing and the action sequences also look alike except Dasavatharam's effort looks like child's play . It was just a face mask for Kamal .

Bopanna stuns top seed Fish in Newport

India's Rohan Bopanna stunned top seed Mardy Fish of USA at the $385,000 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport on Wednesday to advance into the first ATP quarter-final of his career.
Bopanna served 14 aces, saved seven of nine break points and fought off one set point at 5/6 in the first-set tie-break.

Mendis is now second lieutenant

Sri Lanka's latest spin sensation Ajantha Mendis is mobbed by the media as the team arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake on Wednesday.

The unorthodox spinner has been promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in the army after his match-winning exploits

The 23-year-old soldier was promoted five ranks in the army by the island's President Mahinda Rajapakse in recognition of his performance.

Internet to be 60 times faster!

University of Sydney scientists say they have developed a new technology that could make Internet 60 times faster and give users unlimited, error-free access anywhere in the world. And all this at no extra cost.

Lead researcher Ben Eggleton while making the announcement said, initial testing of the technology showed it was possible to achieve Internet speeds 60 times faster than the current Telstra network. But if developed further, the circuit could reach speeds 100 times faster, he added.

The scientists have claimed that this 'small scratch on a piece of glass' is a critical building block and a fundamental advance on what is already out there.

"The scratched glass we have developed is actually a Photonic Integrated Circuit. This circuit uses the 'scratch' as a guide or a switching path for information -- kind of like when trains are switched from one track to another -- except this switch takes only one picosecond to change tracks.

"This means that in one second the switch is turning on and off about one million times. We are talking about photonic technology that has terabit per second capacity," Eggleton explained.

"Currently we use electronics for our switching and that has been OK but as we move toward a more tech-savvy future there's demand for instant Web gratification. Photonic technology delivers what's needed and, importantly, what is wanted," he said.

The University of Sydney has developed the scratch in collaboration with the Technical University of Denmark and with financial support from Australian Research Council.

Audi A4 sedan at Rs 36 lakh

German luxury car manufacturer Audi plans to launch more luxury car models in the near future.Audi India commenced its business activities in 2007 and presently has five models -- Audi A8, Audi Q7, Audi A6, Audi A4 and Audi TT.

They are expecting to sell 1,000 of our cars in the Indian market in 2008, compared to 350 cars last year on the back of growing demand for luxury cars in the market. The new Audi A4 will be a crucial product to help us achieve this goal.

As a part of its strategy to increase sales, the company will have 12 dealers in place by the year-end, from the present seven.

The company is opening five exclusive showrooms by the end of the current year in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata and Ludhiana. At present, it has showrooms in Delhi, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune and Chandigarh.

The company plans to increase its dealer-network to 18 by next year.

The new Audi A4 model sold through these dealers is based on an entirely new technical concept which offers considerable advantages over its predecessor and combines powerfully dynamic design with outstanding handling characteristics.

The Audi A4 is offering a choice of two powerful engines. The diesel engine version priced at Rs 29-lakh and petrol version will be offered at Rs 36-lakh, ex-showroom Mumbai.

DOWNLOAD Kuselan Songs

Katha Parayumbol, the Malayalam super hit starring Mammootty, is being remade in Tamil as Kuselan starring Rajini, Pasupathy, Nayan and Meena. It is also being remade in Telugu as Kathanayakudu with the same cast except Pasupathy being replaced by Jagapathi Babu the Telugu version. The Hindi remake, Billo Barber, stars Shahrukh Khan and Irfan Khan.

Cinema Cinema

Sollamma

Om Zaarare

Chaaral

Perinba

Bond-Hancock combine for a new film starring Hooda

A new Bollywood film is set to go one up on Hollywood, combining the unheroic superhero of Will Smith's "Hancock" with the fictional master spy James Bond.

The film, scheduled to go on the floors soon, stars Randeep Hooda in the lead role, with a Chinese director at the helm.

"We wanted to create a believable platform for India, not a guy who wears his underwear outside, so we said we would do a combination between Bond and Hancock, that's the concept of the movie," Shailendra Singh of producers Percept Ltd told reporters.

"Hancock," featuring Will Smith as a chronically hung-over, often reckless superhero, opened in US cinemas on Wednesday.

Unlike Hollywood, the Indian film industry has rarely explored the superhero genre, most recently in the 2006 film "Krrish" starring Hrithik Roshan.

Singh says his new project is also an "attitudinal" film.

"It's a meaningful film, positioned on the fact that the sun is set on the west, rising in the east. The Indian economy could be a target so it's a message saying listen Mr 007, you handle the white world, and we'll handle our world," he said.

Rushdie tipped to win "Best of Booker" prize

Salman Rushdie is hot favourite to win the "Best of the Booker" award on Thursday which marks the 40th anniversary of one of the world's most coveted literary prizes.

He was up against five other shortlisted authors including Nobel Prize winners J.M. Coetzee and Nadine Gordimer.

Nick Weinberg of bookmakers Ladbrokes said Rushdie had attracted 90 percent of all wagers on the "Best of the Booker" award, possibly reflecting expectations that the public vote would go to the most recognisable of six eligible authors.

"Midnight's Children", an example of Rushdie's magical realist style, follows Saleem Sinai who is born on the stroke of midnight on the day of India's independence in 1947 and whose life loosely parallels the fortunes of his nascent country.

Rusdhie was up against Pat Barker (The Ghost Road), Peter Carey (Oscar and Lucinda), Coetzee (Disgrace), J.G. Farrell (The Siege of Krishnapur) and Gordimer (The Conservationist).

He won the 25th anniversary version of the "Best of the Booker" prize in 1993.

Coetzee and Carey are the only two authors to have won the Booker Prize twice. The Booker rewards the best novel each year by a writer from Britain, Ireland or a Commonwealth country.

"Hancock" beats panda to UK box office glory

Boozing superhero "Hancock" shot to the top of the British box office at the weekend, recording one of the year's highest opening takes and keeping Po the panda off the No. 1 spot.

Will Smith's portrayal of a conflicted hero in need of an image makeover grossed 9.58 million pounds, according to Screen International.

"Kung Fu Panda," with Jack Black as the voice of Po, came in at No. 2 with 4.38 million pounds.

Last week's chart-topper, "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," was down at three with its tale of the four Pevensie children returning to C.S. Lewis' magical world.

At four, down two places, was "Wanted," with James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie in the story of an office deadbeat discovering a talent for murder.

"Sex and the City" recovered a place to five while "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" slipped from five to six.

Seventh was "Adulthood," the sequel to "Kidulthood" of 2006 which was down three places.

Coming in at eight was the film version of a Stephen King novella "Mist" which explores how quickly civilisation can be undone by panic.

Fastest faller of the week, "The Incredible Hulk," starring Edward Norton, was down six places at nine, while Dylan Thomas bioflick "The Edge of Love" was down three at 10.

Madhavan to remake Yes Boss in Tamil

R Madhavan has always been inspired by Shah Rukh Khan .

The latest buzz doing the rounds is that the actor has acquired rights of SRK's hit film, Yes Boss, and is remaking it in Tamil.

Yes Boss (1997), which also starred Juhi Chawla , Kashmira Shah and Aditya Pancholi, was directed by Aziz Mirza. The film revolved around a young ambitious man (SRK), who was his boss' (Pancholi) yes-man because he wanted to make money, even at the cost of sacrificing his love (Chawla).

Madhavan has not had much luck in Bollywood. His last full-fledged Hindi film, Ramji Londonwale, bombed at the box office. However, his brief appearances in Aamir Khan-starrer Rang De Basanti and Abhishek Bachchan-starrer Guru, were appreciated.

Honda interested in Alonso

Honda would be interested in double Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso if he wants out of Renault and cannot move to Ferrari , team boss Ross Brawn said on Thursday.

"We are fairly happy with our two drivers, we'll be interested to see what Fernando does," the former Ferrari technical director told said at the British Grand Prix.

"He's a great driver and a world champion. If he chooses not to stay at Renault then I think every team would be interested in what he's going to do. But it's no more than that."

Learn Ball Room Dance online > dancetv.com

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Yamaha YZF-R15 launch in India

The YZF-R15 wil be the first motorcycle in India with six gears after the old venerable Yamaha RD 350. Good that the new one too is coming from Yamaha. After the iconic Yamaha RX 100 which came to India in the 90s (or was it before that?) Yamaha has consistently managed to play the mileage game instead of the performance game. And lost.

The new direction is what everyone has been waiting for from Yamaha. Forget the six gears – the greatest thing about the Yamaha YZF R15 is its looks. Very like the Yamaha R1 superbike, which is also now available in India anyway as a high priced flagship motorcycle. The Yamaha YZF-R15 was shown to the Indian pubic for the first time at the Auto Expo. And it took the collective breath of India's motoring press away.

The YZF-R15 is India's first fully faired motorcycle. So far the closest we have come to a full fairing in India is the Karizma and the Pulsar models – which have that half fairing. But the fully faired YZF-R15 can make the Karizma and Pulsar models pee in their fairings.

This one is pretty much international, extremely well designed – and get this – there will be a little piece of plastic that will fit snugly over the rear seat giving your r15 motorcycle that single-seater look. What else have we got? You get a steel Deltabox twin-spar frame, digital speedometer and tachometer, tubeless tyres, clip-on handlebars.

You have the close ratio six speed gearbox, 150ccs, liquid cooling, and a massive 18-22 bhp (massive by Indian standards). The 4-valve engine will use fuel injection, and you get both emission haven and power too. Stopping power is provided by the single disc brakes in front and back. Front suspension is traditional, but you have a monoshock at the back.

And them most important factor – price. No official figures have been given so far, but rumors say it would cost Rs 90,000 max on-road in Delhi – add a couple of thousands more for Mumbai. What are the negatives that might creep in by the time the YZF-R15 hits the road?

For one the price might be higher. That would be a dampener for many. Two, expect Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto to try and out-punch the Yamaha YZF-R15 – both in price and power. If Yamaha can really manage a price of 90,000 on road for a 18-22 bhp motorcycle, sure Bajaj and Hero Honda too can do the same. And that might steal a bit of the the YZF-R15's thunder. No matter, we don't think they will easily match the R1-esque looks of the YZF-R15. Expect news on the final pricing and launch dates by June-July 2008.

After the big news of the upcoming launch of the Yamaha YZF-R15, almost nothing else seems woth your while – and then you see the Yamaha FZ. More than a decade back, I rode around on the streets f Mumbai, shit-scared, on a BMW F650 Funduro. The bike cost more than 4 lakhs, and was an unqualified disaster when it came to sales. But it had a stance which reminded Mumbaikars of a horse – and collected a crowd wherever I parked it.

The Yamaha FZ – they call it a prototype – reminded me of the F650 with its color scheme and upright stance. But the FZ looks more modern for sure. Yamaha says that the FZ is just a prototype. Nobody in the motoring press believes them. Chances are, this 150 cc air-cooled motorcycle will make it into production towards the end of 2008.

You have basically the same engine as the YZF-R15 Yamaha on this motorcycle, but this is more a road-and-track motorcycle than the YZF, which has racing pretensions even in the 150 cc guise. So what you have is a motorcycle that will take on the Pulsars directly, and will tempt the owners of the regular econo-miser 150 cc motorcycles. The Yamaha FZ will hav a 5-speed gearbox which will put some 16-18 bp on the road – enough to become the performance 150cc king. The expected price (absolutely unconfirmed, and based on rumors, etc etc) is Rs 70,000 on-road in Delhi.

One advice: If you can hold on to your motorcycle purchase decision for a while, do so till you hear about the YZF R15 and the FZ from Yamaha. They might both be path-breaking motorcycles in India, and you don't want to feel bad about not buying them. Wait for a bit, it'll be worth it.