Pin-up Board

Got myself a piece of Thermocol, and made an instant pin-up board, put up some of my most treasured pictures and I like the result :D

Random Post

Last night lighting crackers at a friends place, reiterated my recent resolution that the fun one gets lighting crackers is just not worth the smoke and intense noise generated.
There was a time when I used to get bags full of crackers, so many that they would last the entire Diwali stretch and be available for celebrating Indian victory in cricket matches.
But since then I have limited myself to crackers that emit the least amount of sound or smoke.

I watched the movie 'American Beauty' and I think it sucks big time, reminds me of a quote
"All you need is for one person to think you're cool, and you're in. Everyone else will be scared to question it."
Pathetic movie with not one plus point, I have been a huuuuge fan of Kevin Spacey until I watched this movie, I see him in a weird new light now.

But I guess I live in an age where a "Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham" kind of movie with all its opulence scores over the brilliance and subtlety of a "Swades" (One of my all time fav movies)

Also this Diwali has ushered in a wave of changes, (all for the best as always), For the first time in my entire life, I am thinking of next Diwali (as in thinking almost a year ahead, I normally never try and look beyond the next weekend)

Cloing my random post with wishes for a wonderful, environment friendly and safe Diwali ahead!

Bookie

I realise so many people judge you by the books you read,

"ooooooh Sidney Sheldon, thats so childish"

"Ooooh you dont read Harry Potter? saaad"

"What!? you prefer Terry Pratchett over Douglas Adams? who is Pratchett!?"

These so called generalities change from place to place, I went over to Barnes and Nobles with a friend cos I had promised to gift her a book.

I was looking for GK Chesterton's Father Brown, but our pals at B&N had not heard of it :-|
(I am sure they would know who wears what underpants in Gryffindor)
Finally I decided to get her the Bartimaeus Trilogy, We looked up and down all over the place and finally realised that hey! the books are in the kids section
8-12 year old to be precise.

Now this was a shocker to me! to see the book I have been presently reading in the kids section! siiigh well I enjoy the series anyways, do read the trilogy if you get a chance, very Pratchetty in nature.

p.s: its cheaper to watch a movie twice in a good theatre than to buy a book in the US. Not nice.
I got pearl jewelery for the same price I spent on a couple of books! Thank GOD for places like Blossoms here.

I may not act my age, but do I at least look my age?

On a recently concluded trip to the land of "Life Liberty and Pursuit of happiness" (I am trying hard not to laugh :-|), I happened to visit the very American "Applebee's Grill".

Now as we were waiting to be seated, my roving gaze fell upon a bunch of colourful crayons, I asked the waiter if I could get some and he happily gave me 4 of them (one of each colour).

So we were seated and it being a Friday evening, I decided to partake in some alcoholic beverage.

Out came a pretty little waitress to get our orders

She: "What can I get for you honey?"
Me: "I would like a Long Island Iced Tea please, make it strong"
She(Giving me one long hard look) : May I have some age proof
Me: I don't have age proof on me, but hey I am 25! (my friends nodded in agreement too)
She(with a wicked grin): Sorry, you look 15ish to me
Then it was the turn of her roving gaze to fall upon the crayons in my hand (bad timing)
She: ah crayons eh? here you wont get any alcohol tonight, what you will get is a colouring book
and she gave me a bl**dy colouring book!

I ordered a Chocolate milkshake, coloured in some of the psychopathic looking animals in the colour book and when she came back to get our main course orders,
handing back the colouring book I proclaimed
"You see I cannot order any food, its against my religion to eat without drinking alcohol!"

She laughed at this and I left

1 month down the line,
I landed at the same restaurant again (for the record: much against my wishes) without my age proof again :(
This time my friends promised we would get a table somewhere in a remote corner.
And a remote corner we did get!
I did not even glance at the crayons and was acting all adult when, lo behold! who comes to take our order?
The same pretty waitress!

Me (attempting to hide my face): Err an Apple Martini please
She: Ah you are the same chap who was sulking last time because you did not get that drink!

Siiigghhhhh
I wont go into the conversation that ensued, all I can say is they make good Chocolate Milkshakes there and hey! a milkshake is any day better than an Apple Martini or a Long Island Ice Tea! eh?

Nikola Tesla

I recently watched Christopher Nolan's "The Prestige", and one character that stuck in my mind was that of Nikola Tesla (played by David Bowie), I decide to read up on Tesla only to realise that Tesla was not a fictional character but existed in real life.
Tesla apparently was the uncredited inventor of the Radio, and kicked Elvis Edison's A** many a time over the AC v/s DC "War of the Currents"

Having worked for Edison and having been cheated by Edison, Tesla still rose to become one of the worlds greatest scientist.
I had never heard of him before, I wonder how many of us have? and I also wonder how many such greats have been overshadowed by their more media friendly contemporaries...

Songs in my head

Have you ever seen the rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Ajab Si - Om Shanti Om
Aye mere pyaare watan - Manna Dey
Katra Katra - Ijazat
You're Beautiful - James Blunt

Movies...

Well the past couple of months have been hectic and crazy, nevertheless have been able to catch up on a few movies :)

Four Brothers


Four brothers get together to avenge their mothers death, I liked this movie, fast paced and good gun fights :)

Corpse Bride


Tim Burton and Johnny Depp get together again, in this dark and macabre animated film :) I think my expectations were too high and I ended up a little disappointed. An average movie.
(there for ppl who think I blindly love any Johnny Depp movie, here is one I think is avg :D )

Evan Almighty

Decent movie, kept me entertained on the long flight home, at no point did this make me laugh out loud though, and a comedy that fails to do that is, well, not a comedy :|

The Illusionist


Edward Norton and the very pretty Jessica Biel, with great support from Paul Giamatti. This movie about a magician, who uses all his skills to get the girl he loves :)
Well made, very watchable. The only shortcoming is a gaping plot hole!

Bheja Fry
Good movie, again, this one kept me entertained on a very long flight, made me laugh out loud. A good watch!

Oceans 13
Barely watchable

Spiderman 3
Pathetic, the joker in spandex has gone from bad to worse

Shrek 3
Alright, but this one has started to get on my nerves too

Pirates 3
Watchable

Fracture


This one is gooood movie :) Ryan Gosling matches Anthony Hopkins, scene to scene. A courtroom thriller, a very well made and watchable movie!

Shoot 'em up


Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti, both good actors completely wasted in this piece of trash! Easily enters the list of the worst English movies I have ever watched, I am very surprised to see this rated highly in imdb.
oh and if there was any doubt as to who the hottest 40+ actress today is? one can safely take Monica belluci out of the reckoning, She looks 60 in this one.

Flight Plan

Flight1

Pilot: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard! sorry for the delay in take off, My computer seems to have gone to sleep and refuses to wake up, I am just rebooting it and we should take off in the next 15 mins!


Pilot again...(30 mins Later): Well the computer is sure behaving odd, it refuses to wake up. I guess we will have to do without it! please fasten your seat belts, we take off in 2 mins



Flight2

I nodded off while reading and awakened by the hysterical screams of the lady sitting next to me. As I slowly got myself back into the world of the conscious I realised that, in fact quite a few people were screaming.

The reason being that the plane was behaving like a roller coaster car.

I quite enjoyed the bumps and the sudden shuddering drops (very exciting, it being the first time i had experienced turbulence in air), but quite a few people, instead of being appreciative, were busying themselves either screaming or throwing up.

There were a few others who like me were grinning and enjoying the ride, and I can swear there was one guy who slept through the entire 15 minute period.

The pilot however was uncharacteristically quiet. Not a word from him.
Later when we landed (according to the lady next to me, "miraculously we are on the ground") and were disembarking, out came the pilot and I smiled at him.
He looked at me and said "Rough ride eh?" I nodded back in agreement, to which he responded
"I was praying in there!"
:-| next time we encounter turbulence, I will join in the screaming too!

Half the country on a bicycle!

I had promised more details regarding the bicycle expedition last weekend, a week has gone by and now I have a scooter and a cycle!
But I keep my word, here is a brilliant (& fantastic, fabulous, awesome etc etc) map I made, that shows the cycle trail we took to ride through half the country :)

Click on the picture to enlarge

Saturday on the island - Biking

We hired bicycles, took a ferry to the western tip of the country and managed to cycle half the country in 5 hours! and all this while drinking in the sights Bermuda had to offer and eating some great food at a beautiful place. Bermuda is a hilly place and we were tired by the end of 5 hours but it was an unmatched experience biking along the coast, and visiting the beaches.

Here are some pictures of the day, as always with Bermuda, there is a lot of blue, lots of water and skies !

On the ferry from Hamilton (capital) to Naval Dockyard







On the Road






The Food place!!






The rain approaches






Horseshoe Bay (A popular Beach)





A Beautiful evening (View of Hamilton Parish, Bermudian capital)

Here I stay!!

Bermudian Roofs

All the roofs in Bermuda are white pyramid shaped ones, This helps the Bermudians do some rain water harvesting, they use this water even for drinking at times!
When we landed, we were told, "if someone offers you water to drink, go out and look at their roof, if its white and clean, the water would be good to drink" :)

Oh, and that is indeed a rainbow that greeted me last morning when I walked out of the Hotel !

There is a huuuge cruise ship on my street and other observations in Bermuda...

Oh yes! I walked out of office and lo behold there was a massive "building" right in front of me that had not existed 4 hours ago!



This picture may convey some of the effect it had on us, but its just not enough!!

this ocean Liner is about 8 storeys tall and two city blocks long.

I have been slogging it out for the past 3 days I have been here, but have managed to get a few snaps. Definitely more about the place in the days to come, for now here are some pictures

Quest for the Rest - Awesone Awesome Awesome

The Polyphonic Spree have come up with some new songs, I never before have heard of the Polyphonic spree, however I happened to stumble upon their launch website, now this website is designed as a game where you need to find ways to re-unite 3 band members with the rest of the band.

Wonderful animation, a very nice game and some nice music, the overlying theme of the game being "overcoming obstacles"
You have to check this out!

Weekend of Work and Chak De! with Rats and a District Collector

I signed up for a weekend recruitment event in Vellore, at ThoughtWorks, we (Developers, BA's and QA's) help out the recruiters recruit people. This time volunteering meant going off on a weekend to Vellore (Tamilnadu) to hire students from VIT (Vellore Institute of Technology).

The group was fun and VIT has a huge, beautiful campus, with a wonderful guest-house. So the whole set-up was fun!
Especially because the profs at VIT were expecting a group of experienced looking professionals in jackets n ties and there we were the 6 of us in jeans and T-shirts looking like students ourselves! hehehe
After the first day of presentations, the initial logic tests (The super cool Flow Chart thingys that had me hooked 3 yrs ago!) and the code pairing sessions, we decided to go watch a movie!

The movie was supposed to begin at 9:45pm in a theatre 8 kms away from VIT , we just had time to grab quick dinner and leave!

We got there just in time (or so it seemed then), and while waiting for the ticket counter to open - spent our time betting on the price of the tickets and arguing with a local shopkeeper about whether a Chikki is called a Chikki or a Burfi :-|
At 10 a school bell rang, announcing the opening of the ticket counter (the price of the ticket was 25 rupees!!!)
There were a few rats in the theatre and the movie did not begin until the arrival of the vvip, in this case the District Collector, by the time the DC arrived with his family it was already 11pm and most people in the motley crowd gathered to watch the movie were grumbling. The rendition of The national Anthem before the movie began, however set the mood for the evening!
I must say it was not the best of theatre experiences, but a good movie and a good group made the entire weekend a fun-filled one!

oh and we hired a couple of ppl from VIT too :)

The Best movie in a long time

The best gift I have received in recent times, is a dvd of the Iranian movie "Children of Heaven"

I began watching it on a sunday afternoon and 15mins into the movie I decided, "I have to watch this with Mom and Dad!" which I did later that night.

Children of Heaven is a piece of cinematic brilliance, I would easily rate it alongside Shawshank Redemption, the only difference being, SR has a hollywoodish feel and a great storyline,

Whereas 'Children..." is a very simple movie and has the simplest of storylines, now that I think of it, hey! I would rate Children of Heaven higher than Shawshank redemption.

A simple story about a 10 year old boy, Ali, his little sister Zahra and a pair of (missing) shoes.

No matter who you are, how old you are or how you think... you cannot help but enjoy this movie!

beg, borrow or steal to watch this movie!

You know its not your day when...

• you cross the road and almost get run over by a speeding auto
• Someone calls u to say lets have lunch and when u reach there you get "hey I am busy" :-|
• you lose 3 times out of 4 at ping-pong
• you come back home to watch Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir struggling to score against a schoolboy bowling attack

Fantastic Karaoke

Check out this sing along song :D

Its Volare - Gypsy Kings

It lifted my mood to a completely new high
fantastic is an understatement...go get Rhythm!!

Kids, I say!

Recently a few of us went to a Happy Budday Party of a 7 year old, now none of us are the subject matter experts on how to behave at a little girl's party, but each of us knew that we had the ability to entertain the tots.

What we did not foresee was that a group of 7 year olds is a much tougher proposition than a single 7 year old. All my self professed ability of being good at handling kids vanished in ether when a little girl (a guest at the party) came up to us.

This is what followed:

Us: (*patting the lil girl on the head*) hellooooo whats your name??
lil girl: yo dudes! wassssup duuuude! (*in impeccable rapper accent*)
Us: errr, uh, well, how are you?
lil girl:( *making some complicated gestures with her fingers*) "duuuude SEE IT! REMEMBER IT and EAT IT MAN! EAT IT!"

-- I only hope that the girl was not displaying a centrally located finger to us --
:-|

I have decided to avoid Budday parties henceforth, and hey the term 'Bundle of joy' is a misnomer.

Movies

Trainspotting

Well this dopchi goes right into my list of weirdo movies to join movies such as 'I love Huckabees', 'Earth Girls are easy', 'The Cable guy', 'Jacob's Ladder' etc
Trainspotting seems to be a very well known movie, but it did not move me too much.


Glengary Glen Ross


A starstudded cast consisting of Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, make this adaptation of a play watchable with some very good acting :)
About 4 real estate salesmen, a sales contest (1st prize - a car, 2nd place - a set of steak knives, 3rd place - you are fired) and a robbery.
slow paced but interesting.

Holidays

Done with the project I was on, I decided to take a few days off. Normally when I get or take a few days off, I try and fit in quite a bit of travel during that period. but this time around I decided to do nothing.

Now I am good at sitting and doing nothing, you may laugh, but if are one who thinks doing nothing is a waste of time or how can one do nothing, then forget it, you just wouldn't understand :D

Well this is what nothing consists of

- Wake up late
- Read
- A bit of Scrabble and other word games
- Watch Cricket on tv

that is it!

Some clowns told me "So you are going on holidays and sitting at home!" well yeah that is my style really .

What is coming up? I do have a lot of travel that I would like to do, and that is something that I look forward to.

oh reading the second in the Bartimaeus Triolgy btw, and a friend promised me some super Terry Pratchett books that I haven't read before so quite a bit on the reading front :D

Irritating scrabble tips!

Lol, This is how I DON'T play scrabble, check out the tips this LINK provides, used on a regular basis by "Hardcore" Scrabble players.



Krymsson and I just enjoy playing the game to make and learn truly beautiful English words, and not high scoring words that mean nothing. heh.

Books are weapons... (of mass distraction ?)

Here I found a list of top 10 Banned Books of the 20th Century

Kangaroo Words

A fun concept for all ye Word Smiths -> Joey to the World

Fair Share of Hair

I am not one of those who go to a glitzy saloon, where the tresses are pampered and cut as if engaging in topiary.

I belong to the category of people, who find the place most close to home, that offers to chop off the hair, hence getting the hair cut with minimalistic effort.

“HARE CUTTING SALOON” shouts the lettering neatly stenciled on the door of the Saloon I visit on a not so regular basis, yes this is the same place that used to have the Himesh Reshamiya look alike (cap and all).

The girl thinks I look " ‘funny’ with my hair all around the place ",

well at the moment it does indeed look like it is defying the laws of gravity :(

siiiggghh it definitely is time to go get a haircut. Yaaaawn.

When do I get to go bald ?? *taps fingers impatiently*

Been Reading

American Gods

True to my word, I went back to Gaiman, was not disappointed, American Gods is supposedly Gaiman's best book. I would not go as far to categorise it as his best work, but definitely a good read if you are used to reading Gaiman, else it gets a little dark and confusing.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy - The Amulet of Samarkand

The first book of the Bartimaeus Series, was recommended to me as being very Pratchett like. I was promised I would enjoy it. I promptly bought it and began reading, and boy! is it wonderful?
I am about halfway through the book and am thoroughly enjoying it! A must read for all lovers of fantasy, the way fantasy must be.
Very funny, laden with sarcasm and oodles of magic.

Hilarious!!

I loved the 300 trailer, here is something I found on you tube that takes it all to a new level.

300 - Southpark Spoof

Movers and Doers

The Movers are the people who delegate, they see a need and then are able to talk some other people into fulfilling this need, they are a different breed , a necessary breed, without whom the push may not exist.
The Doers are the people who do the work, they may do this because they either enjoy doing the work or because the Movers hold some power over them (positive or negative)

Many a time the Movers and the Doers exchange roles, depending on the need.

I have been both a mover and a doer on different occasions, everything has worked fine.
However, the balance is gone, when there is unnecessary interference.

As a Mover, if you do not know what is being done or how it is being done, then it is better to shut up and trust the doer.

Buddha

Am reading Osamu Tesuka's brilliant 8 volume comic epic, Buddha. Thanks to Krishnan :D

It is a mixture of known facts and made-up fiction, all mixed with perfect quantities of humour and gore :)

Very very nice, I am in Volume 3 at present, a bigger and better review will replace this one once I am through with the series!

Rewhew

Dead Poet's Society



Slow, but simple and nice, Robin Williams carries this movie entirely on his shoulders and does a fantastic job!, what were Yash Raj films thinking when they made the indian version, with SRK, Ash and load of other crap...wouldnt know.


Crow Road



Iain Banks has written better, I personally would consider 'Inversions' and 'The Wasp Factory', to be better books, But 'Crow Road' is apparently the book people swear by. (Maybe because it has a limited 'acceptable' quantity of macabre and black humour compared to the afore mentioned books)
I believe the term for this style of a book is, bildungsroman
Mind you, this is well written, in that, Banks does a good job of smoothly moving between time lines, first and second person narration etc. However, that is the only positive I can think of,otherwise I found it to be trite, meaningless and predictable ( I was always under the impression that Banks was good because of his unpredictability)

siiigh, back to Colin Dexter and Neil Gaiman then, at least they haven't disappointed me (...yet)

Pet Peeves

1. People littering the road...grrr extremely irritating to see plastic of all shapes and sizes on the pavement, the road and everywhere the eye can rove.
2. People generally assuming they can affectionately call you with any term of endearment or abuse. 'oh you bastard!' , 'Thats awesome baby' .
   
3. Fake Laughter, its worse when the FL emanates from people at their own jokes, its the equivalent of running finger nails down a blackboard.

Super

Come, my friends.
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
the sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be that we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are---
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine."

- Anthony J. D'Angelo


yeah its worked on most of my trips, indeed I R a lucky charm!!

Songs in the cranium

Na Jaane Kyon - Choti si Baat
Thandi Hawa yeh chandini suhani - Jhumroo
Mama I'm coming home - Ozzy Ozbourne

Skies...

Well the rains were scheduled to hit on the 1st of June, however I have never seen clearer skies in Bangalore till date :)

I personally prefer gloomy weather to bright skies, but the azure skies of B'lore the past couple of days have been a sight to behold.

A beautiful Blue unmarked by clouds in the day and just about sunset a wonderful set of clouds that reflect the light of the setting sun giving the a lovely hue to the sky :D

Fantabulous... missed clicking a few pics, if the skies last, then maybe tomorrow :)