Barack Obama's inspiration - Lord Hanuman

President disclosed this on a YouTube interview which the White House scheduled as a way to reach younger audiences as it promotes Obama's final State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Asked to show off an item of personal significance during the interview with YouTube creator Nilsen yesterday, 54-year-old Obama pulled from his pockets a series of small totems, each of which he said reminded him "of all the different people I've met along the way."

It included rosary beads given to him from Pope Francis, who he met at the White House this fall; a tiny Buddha statue procured upon him by a monk; a silver poker chip that was once
the lucky charm of a bald, mustachioed biker in Iowa; a figurine of the Hindu God Hanuman; and a Coptic cross from Ethiopia, where he visited in July, CNN reported.

"I carry these around all the time. I'm not that superstitious, so it's not like I think I necessarily have to have them on me at all times," Obama said.

But he said they do provide some reminders of the long path of his presidency.

"If I feel tired, or I feel discouraged sometimes, I can kind of reach into my pocket and say yeah, that's something I can overcome, because somebody gave me the privilege to work on these issues that are going to effect them," he said.

Obama, whose father was a Kenyan and mother a white woman from Kansas, spent initial days of his life in Indonesia where Hinduism is a popular religion.

YouTube to support virtual reality video on its app

San Francisco: YouTube announced two new features Thursday for its Android app that expand the video site's use of virtual reality, giving the new technology its biggest platform yet.

The app now supports VR video - a format that gives viewers what the company says are more realistic 360-degree perspectives of films.

To view it, a user would call up a virtual reality video on the YouTube app, click a button on the video for VR mode, and place the phone in Alphabet Inc's "Cardboard" device, a handheld gadget made from the standard box material that creates a VR viewing experience.

Makers of virtual reality content can upload VR videos compatible with the Cardboard viewer directly to YouTube. YouTube said there are about a dozen VR videos, including one stemming from the "Hunger Games" movies.

YouTube also announced that viewers can see its vast library of videos with a more limited virtual reality experience, also using Cardboard. YouTube said that the videos will resemble what a viewer would see on an IMAX theatre screen.

Neil Schneider, executive director of VR trade organisation Immersive Technology Alliance, noted that YouTube introduced 3D video in 2009 and was also an early adopter of high-definition video.

"It's not surprising they would take the angle of adding virtual reality," he said.

Schneider said the public can expect to see an explosion of high quality content, but said amateur content might be more difficult to come by because the gear to create VR content is typically expensive.

But Jay Iorio, a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers who has created films for Cardboard and Facebook's Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, said he would not be surprised to see VR recording capabilities on smartphones.

"The equipment I have right now, people will probably have on their phones in a couple years," he said.

Oculus Rift is scheduled for release next near and is expected to cost between $300 to $350. Cardboard costs between $5 and $50.

The YouTube app with the updated Cardboard technology is currently only available for Android phones but an iOS version is set to be released "soon," according to YouTube.

New breed of online comics

The rains are here — if there’s one thing Chennaiites agree on, it’s tucking into bed with a good ol’ cuppa coffee and a laptop. Thankfully for us, the Internet is a great source of entertainment and a laugh riot, with innumerous humour channels devoted to namma ooru.

 

If you’re looking for an example, Madras Meter’s recent video Google Avatharam, is sure to tickle your funny bone. From Rahul Gandhi to Thalaivar — it hilariously shows the popular search engine Google as different people. Let’s not stop there — other channels include Enna da Rascalas, Paracetamol Paniyaram and even popular video blogs like the ones by Syed Mohsin or Saadiya Ali. 

 

So what exactly is the reason behind this new trend? Could it be that popular hotels, cafés and pubs, which have been known to host open mics and comedy skits in the past, have begun to choose well-established and prominent comedians for their shows? It could be the reason that Kanan Gill’s show in the city recently sold out! Balaji Venugopal, creative head of Madras Meter and an RJ, has mixed views about this new trend. “I love stand-up comedy and other forms of humour as well.

 

The audience today, including myself, want instant laughs. So when I got to a show, I expect a basic quality in the humour. The brand of the comedian matters — that way, more tickets are sold. Of late, a lot of newcomers are being coupled with already established people during shows — people don’t mind that. This way, you get a holistic experience of sorts — from new people as well as the popular ones,” he says, adding that the comedy circuit is getting a lot of recognition.

 

“I do a lot of shows as an RJ and actor as well, but YouTube was a revelation. I never thought I’d be doing something like Madras Meter. It gives you so many opportunities. You can use n-number of talented people for a video,” he muses. For Jaytesh Sridhar of Paracetamol Paniyaram, calling established comedians is something organisers and hosts of events have to do. 

 

We do have open mics in the city. Many of my friends have performed at a few places in the city like Lloyd’s, sometimes every week. But there is a difference in spectrum — there are a few people who encourage such acts in the city, but there are others who don’t understand comedy. We need to encourage the positive mentality. But the fact that people have started using the online medium is a great thing to have. It brings a lot of variety and new ideas to humour,” says Jaytesh. 

 

Syed Mohsin, a popular VJ and video blogger, is pretty famous for his channel, where he performs humorous skits with his sister. While he doesn’t believe that open mics in Chennai aren’t welcoming, starting a YouTube channel is well-curated medium.

 

“I’m not a regular open mic-er, but from the third person’s perspective, I think Chennai’s scene is more than welcoming. I do believe that it gives fellow newcomers and professionals a chance,” he says. He adds that starting a channel is easy, yet consistence is the challenge, but it still has a lot of plus points that attract comedians. “One is usually an ‘all in all alaguraja’ at the beginning. It’s also safer and much more curated. You screw up a video, you can do it again and take care of it in post-production,” he says in conclusion.   

Getting to the bottom of it

On Saturday evening, Ronnie Manuel Joseph gets an email from Youtube. His short film Padakkam that has gathered over 1.5 lakh views in three weeks, has been removed. The reason they give is ‘inappropriate content’, as suggested by spam reports.

 

Ronnie is confused. He is two short films old, plus a music video called Yelove. That first short film he did – Cinemabaaki – had a lot of appreciation but then it got very few views. “I had written the script and directed it. The few who watched it said good things about it,” says Ronnie. Among them was Vineeth Sreenivasan. But when Ronnie asked if he could share it, Vineeth said this was not his best work, and he would share the best one. He kept his promise when Padakkam came out and put it on his Facebook, tagging Ronnie. And then it got spread around fast.

 

Padakkam shows two lives, one of a child growing up motherless with memories of a lullaby he heard as a baby, and the other of a sex worker. Kani Kusruthi plays the sex worker, at first rebuking the child who seems to follow her everywhere. “He is the cousin of Padakkam’s scriptwriter Aneesh R, who I met during the making of my first film, and who became the hero of it.” All his meetings, it would seem, are by chance. Ronnie met his cameraman Bilu one day when he was walking on the MG Road in Kochi. “I had seen and loved his photographs on Facebook before. So I recognised him when I saw him.” Bilu then became part of the team making the film. It is through Bilu that Ronnie got to direct the music video Yelove featuring singer-turned-actor Siddharth Menon.

 

Ronnie works in an IT company and is now in Bangalore for a short term. He has always been interested in films and the making of it. It just never happened till his friends encouraged him to start writing. After Cinemabaaki, activist Maithreyan had also sent a message to Ronnie appreciating the good work. So when Padakkam got written, Ronnie asked Maithreyan if Kani, his actor daughter, could act. “We have been very impressed by her work, seeing her in Kerala Cafe, and in a Tamil film called Pisaasu. We called and she agreed.”

 

Now, Ronnie is trying to find out about the removal of Padakkam. “We use the song Unniyaaraariro from the film Ragendu Kiranangal in the film. That had led to some copyright issues with HMV Saregama, which owns it. The law lets you use it as coming from a radio or television, and that’s how we used it. We also spoke to them and agreed that they could take the money coming through this. But I am not sure if that’s what led to the removal now. We hope to upload it again.”