'Wierd' Al

Been recently hooked to 'Weird' Al Yankovic's parodies. Got up today humming the 'Party in the CIA' song! It's awesome and worth listening to atleast once.. its a parody of the 'Party in the USA' song by Miley Cyrus.. saw some of his other parodies.. liked his popular one 'white and nerdy'! was ROFLing..

not fair!

apps like GymPact and RunKeeper make me wish I had a phone with a data plan :(

ahh.. coffee...

Love coffee.. Cannot live without it.. Have to absolutely have it in the morning every day.. Tried to wean myself off it once.. Was successful.. Then came back on it again.. Cuz i still love coffee n what's wrong with having a cuppa joe once a day?

Recently got gifted a coffee percolator (from coffee day - though i'm not able to find a picture of the one i have online).. Very useful.. Tried it first with dunkin donuts (original blend) ground coffee beans.. Was used to nescafe classic instant powder, so took a while to adjust to the dunkin donuts flavor..

Once accustomed, it wasn't too bad.. 

Cons

• The percolator only seems to give coffee (decoction) strong enough for one person.. They suggest using another table spoon of coffee powder on top of the lift-able lid, but doesn't work and results in the coffee having a burnt taste..
• Gives watery coffee.. So not good for people who need a strong decoction so they can mix it with lots of milk/cream.. 
• Takes a while.. U have to let it sit on the stove for like 5 minutes before it starts coming on to the chamber at top.. 

Pros

• Tasty coffee-shop coffee
• Watery consistency liked by black-coffee lovers..  :)

Haven't tried it with less water.. It might give the strong decoction like by madras coffee lovers, so they can add lots of cream.. 

Another thing i've stumbled upon is that coffee beans need to be ground coarsely for use in percolator, as opposed to the ones used in coffee machines - apparently.. So i'm thinking of may be buying a coffee bean grinder to get that right.. :) results if possible later..

Though i have to admit, i like the nescafe classic freeze-dried instant coffee powder a lot :d

baking!

have had a lot more time than usual on my hands.. and took to a lot of cooking.. and baking.. :)

until now, i've ended up using eggs or egg whites (in cartons) for baking a cake.. i did try once or twice with oil instead of egg - but didn't quite get the consistency that i usually get.. being a vegetarian (the no-omlette kind) i had trouble getting used to the 'ickiness' of eggs..

so here's all the stuff i tried till now..

Trial 1:Oil instead of egg
made a german chocolate cake (from mix of-course) with oil.. the equation is:

1 egg = 1/4 cup oil

oil preferred is vegetable oil.. but i've tried canola too
conclusion:
works. but the cake doesn't rise as it does for eggs

Trial 2: Applesauce instead of egg
made a double chocolate brownie with applesauce

1 egg = 1/4 cup applesauce

made the applesauce myself (from leftover apples). was very easy to make and tasted great. i think applesauce is more suited to brownies than cake.
conclusion:
works very well actually. didn't miss the egg

Trial 3: Applesauce instead of egg & oil!
now i tried to get real healthy (sugar apparently doesn't count as bad to me).. i tried to avoid oil too..
and applesauce was one of the alternatives!
tried carrot cake this time.. the equation remains the same as before.. so..

1 egg = 1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup oil = 1 cup applesauce

conclusion:
bombed.. tasted ok n everything.. but didn't rise at all.. came out half the size of usual.. but i coated it with frosting n was edible..

so trying to find the best way to make fat-free eggless cakes that rise.. found an alternative.. am gonna try it out before i make the suggestion..

whoosh!

my super power is to 'cut through crap' :)

Studio audience on BBT

I have moved on from the theory that there is a recorded laughter track on bbt.. I was watching some videos of bloopers and i saw the actors interacting with the audience real time..

I have now formed the theory that the studio audience is really stoned... the picture of a stoned Mr. Garrison watching teletubbies comes to mind.. :D

TIL - Amy & Leonard

Today I learned that Amy and Leonard have been out on a date before! Mayim Bialik and Johnny Galecki have acted together in an episode of Blossom where Johnny was her date!

howard sez..

[when watching star wars on blue ray] "if we don't start soon, george lucas is going to change it again" !! LOL!

does magneto know that..

not all metals are magnetic?

a quote..

That's one career all females have in common - whether we like it or not - being a woman. 

Sooner or later we've all got to work at it, no matter what other careers we've had or wanted... 

- from All About Eve 

Hottt!

I've always preferred a place that is cool and nice. I can even stand snow and rain and cloudy days, but I cannot stand heat! It's surprising that I come from Chennai where there are only 4 seasons - summer, summer, summer and summer! I just kinda learned to deal with it most of my life - stepping out only when i need to and always going out shopping or something during evenings.

May be there is a reason people of the early ages defined hell as a very hot place, hahn?

procreation

do people have children just because, at some point of time in their life, they need a real reason to live?? :D kidding.. but some people might agree.. and after they become old in retrospect a lot of people think children were a main cause of happiness in their life..

i've done this exercise with a bunch of other people where we have to narrate our life in a short period of ten minutes.. boy! was it enlightening! we don't realize, until we talk about it, what the defining moments of our life really were!!

crossover

The guy who plays Rajesh Koothrapalli's dad in BBT was the same guy who played Babu Bhatt the Pakistani restaurateur in Seinfeld.. the owner of the Chinese restaurant to whom Sheldon asks to show the Citrus peels in Mandarin is the same guy who acts in the Chinese restaurant episode of Seinfeld.. interesting how actors get picked for a job.. i wonder if there was even an auditioning for these positions in BBT..

after a reallllllly loooong time

enjoyed the previous episode of the BBT about the spreading of gossip.. <3333333333 the opening scene where Sheldon and Amy talk about the work of the author who writes books about science for the average masses.. when he stands up and insults the author - that was brilliant!

Jim Parsons has gotten fat! been celebrating a lot after the award he won? :D

Ripped Divinity

Was Ganesh always fat or did he have to bulk up to support his head? :D
I get the weirdest ideas!

Rihanna Ripoff

Kadhalil Vizhunthaen song 'Unakkena Naan' is an absolute and total ripoff of Unfaithful  by Rihanna. Who's gonna tell Rihanna?

jobs

for a hippie he sure does want strict control of the products and technologies that Apple is associated with.. interesting..

beleive

Expect people to be better than they are; it helps them to become better. But don`t be disappointed when they are not; it helps them to keep trying.

- Merry Browne

video chat

what's the deal with the video chats in the big bang theory? why do people turn sideways while talking to characters as if they were actually sitting before them instead of from a laptop screen.. for example while Amy's mom was video chatting with Amy and Sheldon, Amy's mom had to turn to her extreme right to talk to Sheldon.. i mean unless Amy's mom had a larger than life laptop/computer monitor she wouldn't have to do that.. right?

And Thereby Hangs a Tale

***********************Spolier Alert************************
The following paragraph contains detailed discussion of the book 'And Thereby Hangs a Tale by Jeffrey Archer. Viewers of this post planning to read this book are hereby advised to stop reading at this point if interested in reading the book later with the element of surprise.
***********************************************************

Had to include a spoiler alert. It's only fair since I would expect one if it were me. :)

I read a Jeffrey Archer book after a long time. When I started reading the first short story 'Stuck on You' I was quickly surprised. I didn't expect Lord Archer to be this unoriginal! The main idea of this story exactly like the one which I had read in my English book in school! I didn't recall the name of the story or its author but after some googling I found that it was a story called 'The case of the Sharp-eyed Jeweller' by Nicolas Bentley. He had marked this short story as one he heard in real life. So may be he heard the story from someone.

I went on to read the rest. The other stories were a little predictable - typical Jeffrey Archer style. But it was still good. Then I came on to this story 'Blind Date'. To say that I could guess the rest of the story from the 1st paragraph would be an understatement! It was too predictable. After a little more of google's help I found that it was based on a Ruskin Bond story. Hmm.. guess Lord Archer's getting a little rusty.

The story based on the Indian characters made me laugh a little. Though some of the details were true I wondered if they all could be. The story looked more like some anglicized version of an Indian love story. He tried to be as close to the real story I'm sure. It's really based on the fashion designer Nisha Chowdhry and her husband whom Archer met on one of his trips to India (he used the real names). I read that that this story is going to be made into a Bollywood movie! I don't see why they have to do this - because love stories based on caste differences and related masala have been told and retold a thousand times.. Just because Archer made a mention of it makes no change to the situation.

Jeffrey Archer books are mostly feel-good books like Rajni movies. The protagonist in the story is single-minded, knows his/her dreams, is really industrious and after going through various obstacles finally manages to get what he/she is most after. Very insightful observations are also included. Very rarely some of the short stories do end in irony though. That pretty much summarizes his writing style but still I never tire (haven't yet at least) of reading his books. :)

a nice quote

was watching 'Sisterhood of traveling pants' (part 1) when i heard this and it felt nice and thought i'd share it.. Bailey - the girl with the terminal illness - says:

"Ya know, I don't know, Tibby, maybe the truth is there's a little bit of loser in all of us, ya know? Being happy isn't having everything in your life be perfect. Maybe it's about stringing together all the little things like wearing these pants or getting to a new level of Dragon's Lair - making those count for more than the bad stuff. Maybe we just get through it... and that's all we can ask for. "

:)

blind faith

sometimes i feel this.. how can people pledge allegiance to an organization, person or even country? i'm not sure i can even stand up for myself sometimes.. and i don't mean that dumb self-confidence thing that people do.. u know the one - where people say they were right no matter what they did.. they don't even accept their own mistakes.. i'm not really like that.. sometimes i think its because i don't have enough self-confidence, but that's not true.. over the past few years i've learned enough about myself to know all my good qualities and i'm really confident of myself on a few things.. but i think i make mistakes, do some harm without really thinking.. i cannot say later that i meant to do those things - no i didn't.. i swear i didn't.. there's no reasons for those mistakes.. i'm a good person, but i make mistakes too.. i'm human after all..

so at this stage i cannot even stand for myself other than to say i'm a good person and i try to do the right thing most of the time... how can people support say a leader (political, spiritual, religious) blindly? how can they stand for everything he/she says.. adore everything that comes out of his/her mouth and everything he/she does??

i beleive

that most people are a small step away from insanity.. i think there's a thin line that divides the socially acceptable from the insane..

chim chimney

"chim chimney chim chimney chim chim cheroo
i do what i like and i like what i do..."

the song that's been going on in my head since i got up today.. from the movie 'Mary Poppins'.. :)

i admire

actresses who can carry off a bright red lipstick.. i really do.. :)

Hope is a dangerous thing

There have been many things said about hope. But mostly they have been positive, saying hope is a good feeling. It makes you feel more positive. But I disagree. I've always disagreed with that.

When watching 'Shawshank Redemption' Andy says "Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.". I totally didn't agree. What's the use of having hope? You feel optimistic for like a millisecond? And then what? What if what you hope for doesn't happen?

I think it makes a lot more sense not to hope but just do what you can right now. Whether what you're rooting for happens or not you'll probably be happy you took some step towards your goal - whatever you can do. Then face whatever happens - whether it's what you hoped for or not. Things we hope for don't always happen and at the end we feel severely disappointed. It's always better to have the mindset to face whatever happens.

I read that according to Zen also hope is not such a good thing. It is better to act in the 'present moment'.

The girl with the dragon tattoo

Read the book recently. It took a lot of time for the main story to take off. If the author had been alive may be they'd have polished the book a little. I kept putting the book aside during the initial period. Later it gets interesting - so much so that I got glued to it and couldn't put it down.

The story is not for kids - at one point deals with gruesome murders. The bad guys were a little predictable, not a lot of suspense. The book doesn't have one single climax. It has 2! And then still the life goes on after the 2nd one. May be the author knew he was going to write a sequel.

I've read some series in books before I watched them as movies (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, DaVinci Code). The twilight series - i've only seen the movies and never read the books (I heard they're not that big a deal anyway). But I guess I'll probably just read the Stieg Larsson trilogy and probably not watch the movies and they are in Swedish too.

I guess the Swedish don't know how to make money like the Americans do! All 3 movies based on the trilogy of books have been released in the same year (2009) with a gap of a few months in between! If it were left to American production companies, they would hype the book, remind people that the book was published posthumously and add a little background story about the author to get people buzzing. And then made movies to be released on 3 successive years with the last movie in 2 parts! :))

hallelujah

i heard there was a secret chord
that david played and it pleased the lord
but you don't really care for music d'ya?

on most days when i get up, a song keeps playing over and over in my head.. hallelujah is a recent one that did.. it's the song from Shrek (part 1 - the only movie of that franchise i like).. the choreography for that song in the movie was great with the fade-in and fade-out sequences.. has got to be watched..

BBT

novelty's beginning to wear off... storyline sux.. starting to cater more to the pretentious wannabe nerds..

chemistry

have you ever adored an on-screen couple? and cheered them on if they were also involved in real life?

have you ever wondered why and what it all means to you? its puzzling why people do that... paparazzi getting all crazy for pictures, no privacy... why does this all happen?

nightmare before christmas..

wanted to watch it on christmas eve (i.e) the night b4 christmas :) but couldn't.. so watched the day after.. loved the beginning, hated the rest.. imagination n early soundtracks are good esp. the one about halloween town.. it wasn't at all scary.. a little gross may be.. overall maybe worth one watch esp the beginning

something to think about

don't give in to fear. face it. fear leads to anger. anger leads to hatred. hatred leads to the dark side. - Yoda (i might be paraphrasing it)

i think most people flit between the dark side and back..

someone i know once mentioned that Wolverine's (from X-men) special powers not only included getting wounds healed very fast but also forgetting traumatic incidents of the past.. apparently forgetting trauma was akin to mental healing.. i was surprised that mental healing did not constitute facing the past and accepting it instead of forgetting it! when i voiced this i was told that this was apparently the western philosophy's point of view..

i was just reading the similarities between the jedi force and other existing religions on wiki.. that's what triggered this train of thought..

doppleganger

when watching movies while younger on star movies i used to get confused between actors and mistake one for the other.. slowly as i began to see more movies i got more familiar with faces.. i don't think i'm good at placing faces...

i used to think Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg looked alike.. at one point of time i suppose they were similar.. but later Matt developed muscles and Mark became slim and lanky..

but i swear i'm still confused about Natalie Portman and Kiera Knightley!! i kept 2 windows with pictures of them both side-by-side and i still can't make out the difference! i googled this and this seems to be the opinion of most of the general public.. there's even a facebook group about it.. wouldn't it be weird if they were twins unknown to each other like some hindi movie? :))

P.S: I just found that Kiera did play double for Natalie in Star Wars 1!! How weird is that? I thought there were no camera tricks in the movie.. they would show the queen and her maid together and i was pretty amazed then..

P.P.S: they could be sisters - not twins.. kiera is almost 4 years younger than natalie.

Family Guy & Musicals

I got to know just recently that Seth MacFarlane modeled the way Stewie talks after the misogynistic professor Henry Higgins of 'My Fair Lady' (played by Rex Harrison)! He even made the character sing 'I've grown accustomed to her' song in one episode of season 2.. There are a lot of songs from musicals in Family guy which are a delight to watch..

parent trap

it's one of my favorite movies... its not my fav bcoz its the funniest, cleverest, wittiest movie.. it doesn't excel exceedingly in its genre... but IMHO the most rewatchable movie.. this one gives me a warm feeling everytime i see it.. may be i always wished for a twin sister i would find somewhere who would make my boring childhood eventful.. :))

i guess another rewatchable movie released in 2010 was How to train your dragon..

my fair lady (1964)

was pretty good.. i've seen Audrey Hepburn in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' before this and though this movie had come before and I was surprised to hear her cockney accent! she did a pretty good job.. The guy playing Henry Higgins on the other hand just plain got on my nerves.. the movie description says that he's a misogynistic professor.. but i wasn't ready for all his rudeness! we who were watching it wanted to throttle his neck! :))

heard the familiar song 'all i want is a room somewhere'.. they made the brittania marie jingle with it - 'all is want is english marie.. oh so english the real marie.. isn't it loverly?'..

didn't really show how much higgins was dependent on eliza.. don't know what happened to the poor guy who lost his heart to eliza.. but on the whole i liked it..

musical movies - part 4

watched 2 more recently.. and i have to say that one changed the scale by which i rate all musicals! The Sound of Music! It was freakin' awesome! The songs were all brilliant and I loved the story. I've heard a lot about it from friends but sadly only got to watch it now. It has now replaced 'Singin' in the Rain' at the top of my best musicals list..

and the other one i saw was 'love me tonight'.. from the description i thought it would be funny but it wasn't really.. dukes, countesses, viscounts, squandering nephews, impostors in the castle, unsuitable matches.. the story could be right out of a Wodehouse book! only difference is this is based in some village in France instead of Shropshire, England. most of the movie i spent in observing the life of the peerage.. the music was not bad.. i loved the starting bit where the sights and sounds of Paris were all blended in to a symphony.. :) a typical love story of two people not of the same class.. and i have to say this for the old movies.. boy! did it take very little to fall in love those days! :))

ROFL! ROFL!

still LOLing for Barney's Christmas message!
not for what he said but how he said it.. i was expecting a regular christmas message and the shock of it was too much!

movie time - part 5

saw beauty and the beast the next musical movie on my list.. it was not bad.. the only fault in the storyline i could find was that they didn't give much time for the beauty and the beast to get to know each other..

why do all the fairy tales have stories where a prince usually saves a very beautiful princess (for ex. sleeping beauty, rapunzel) whereas a girl is always supposed to a save an ugly prince (for ex. 'beauty and the beast', 'princess and the frog').. i didn't notice this trend in old fairy tales until now.. maybe even then they knew that only girls can be expected to see beyond the surface and really observe the inner beauty of people.. :)

movie time - part 4

A Night at the Opera
Found it really funny! the crowded cabin in the ship bit, moving the beds in the apartment bit, converting the opera to a baseball game.. it was all fun.. the silent guy in the movie (harpo marx i think) was the funniest! i think the marx brothers type of comedy has to grow on you.. so would recommend watching 'duck soup' before this one.. also i think this would be more fun while watching it with a group..

chevy spark

i saw the tail light of chevy spark recently.. it looked brilliant! i'm not able to see a good picture of it with the lights on.. until a few days back, i thought the tail light was made of LEDs.. but sadly found out that its regular bulb inside with strategic etches on the silver plating surrounding it.. really sad... LEDs would have looked much better..

movie time - part 3

was watching movie musicals recently.. in India all movies are musicals.. but only some are musicals in English.. my all-time favorite, as I might or might not have mentioned, is 'Singin' in the rain'.. very upbeat and fun.. a few years back in Chicago i went to a musical performance and got hooked to live performances too.. some of the plays i saw were 'Grease', 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Raincoat' and 'Cabaret'. I loved 'Joseph'!! very funny and innovative.. loved all the songs.. got sooo hooked that i bought the entire album cd from amazon a few days after i saw the show! i don't know why some people criticize Andrew Lloyd Weber's musicals..

well anyway getting back to the point.. saw some musical movies over the past few days.. have already seen 'Singin' in the Rain' lotsa times and 'Wizard of Oz' on tv many times too.. i saw 'Lion King' (which i've seen before).. it was god as usual.. then i saw this Marx brothers movie 'Duck Soup'.. it was funny, but was too slapstick for me most times.. loved the mirror scene! was ROFLing.. i've seen the mirror scene copied soo many times in cartoons but never as funny as this!

will be seeing more of these still..

returning to origins

when i was younger i used to think that i would not do some things (actions, deeds - whatever you may call them) when i became older and more matured in my thinking.. because i thought some of my (then) current actions were immature... but when i became older i realized that i did the same things and the only difference was i knew exactly why i was doing them.. its hard to explain with a specific example but hope that this makes sense..

when i was younger my habits and beliefs were of one kind.. when i became older i discarded them as immature and changed to a method that made more sense to me.. and later now i see no fault in the things i was doing in the first place but much the wiser for my experience...

i guess i'm rambling - but i'm reading this book 'Eat Pray Love' and every time i read some of the author's observations that i can completely relate to it gets me thinking in these terms..

bewitched quote

Endora says: "the ability to forget is very important to you mortals. you do so many stupid things, a perfect memory would be impossible to live with." do i agree with her or what?!!

apart from the mistakes i do being my own biggest critic sucks bigggg time! not only do those mistakes remain in my memory, they are magnified ten times by my critical mind!

i wish

i could freeze the time when i was reading 'famous five's and 'secret seven's! that would be like 3rd std.. or even 'nancy drew's, 'hardy boy's or 'the three investigators'.. that would be 5th i think... yesterday i passed an old book shop and when i looked in i saw these books and it was kind of nostalgic.. its hard to work up an enthusiasm for those books now but i think i'd like to collect them just for fun..

comparison

on observing the BBT episodes I feel whenever Bill Prady steps in to write the story its a lot more technical (and fun for me) than when Chuck tries to.. the dumb storyline can be credited to Mr. Lorre i suppose.. i guess then in 2.5 men Chuck dictates the entire story and Bill discovers big 'tough' words for the chiropractor guy to utter! brain without sense isn't worth anything..

The taking of Pelham 123

was pretty lame! a halfhearted attempt by the director and a very weak storyline..

Why do we watch TV shows?

The whole reason you watch a TV show is because it ends. If I wanted a long boring story with no point to it, I have my life. LOL!

ROFL!

i grew up here.. i speak conductor!!

prayer

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances
But they're worth taking
Lovin' might be a mistake
But it's worth making
Don't let some hell bent heart
Leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out
Reconsider
Give the heavens above
More than just a passing glance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)

I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
I hope you dance
(Where those years have gone)

(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)

Mayim Bialik is back in business

when i saw the 2nd episode (of BBT season 4) i thought for a moment that the 'Amy' character was not going to continue. but in the 3rd episode she was back with a bang! and i liked the episode too because they mostly talk of social interactions (which i can relate to) and i liked the part about the neuroscience perspective dominating the scientific one.. and after all Mayim has a PhD in neuroscience (in real life). so it was cool..

and its weird that in an earlier season in the episode where they form teams to win the Physics quiz trophy, Raj suggests that they recruit the 'girl from Blossom' who apparently had a PhD in neuroscience.. :D

SP - Cartman - 1

got reminded of this episode where Cartman says "It's not going to be easy. But nothing worth having ever is"

drinking water on an empty stomach

i've been trying to find some proof that the claims made for this are true and i've been so far unsuccessful.. i saw the same baseless article about drinking water after you wake up (without even brushing your teeth!) about some japanese formulation and its supposed to cure every illness in the world including cancer!! totally stupid how people will include anything on their blog without proof..

Mayoclinic has a nice article about water and its benefits (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283) but it mentions nothing about drinking it on an empty stomach. I wish people would stop to think before they follow any practice..

ridiculouser and ridiculouser

BBT season 4..
but liked the fact that they cast that Blossom (tv show) girl (now a lady) as Sheldon's girl friend.. as a girl she acted well though.. in s4e1 of bbt i thought she was talking like a robot..

oil pulling

doesn't seem to have a lot of scientific evidence supporting its alleged benefits.. only accepted benefit is that it prevents plaque probably because of a saponification process.. but that's what using a toothpaste does too.. its really weird how much faith people have in this process with absolutely no proof

animation...

i like 'star trek - the animated series' much more than 'star trek - the original series'! i mean in the tv show with william shatner it's all about showing how macho he is, how he charms women and all that rot.. women seem to be powerless characters b4 him! absolute nonsense! and the story drags on without too many technical or philosophical turns in the story... they tried to tailor it for the layman i suppose..

traffic...

how can people pull up sooo close to other vehicles till the point where they are not able to see that vehicle's tail lights and still complain that the vehicle going before them gave no warning of stopping??

order of the phoenix...

i have been watching the harry potter movies again and i have to say that i found order of the phoenix movie (the 5th) to be an almost accurate adaptation of the book.. sure it wasn't exactly as it was in the book.. but once u get used to the idea that they cannot enact the entire sequence of events given the limited time and that conveying the essence of the information is the most important thing here - it was superb...

they have stripped the book of extraneous or repetitive details and only specified that which is most essential.. i couldn't ask for a better adaptation - and i'm an avid reader of the books myself..

i really didn't know if its the screenplay or direction, but i'm more inclined to believe its the former..

then when i watched the half-blood prince i was astounded! the screenplay writer was not the same but the director was! what a difference some good direction can make.. i'm really glad that the same guy (David Yates) is directing the deathly hallows movies too! :)

though why Mr. Weasley had to say (in HP6 movie) that the vanishing cabinets "were all the rage" when Voldemort was at his peak power.. i mean why would a magic object that all wizards use be in a dark arts shop like Borgin and Burke? that piece was inaccurate and i don't know how Rowling accepted this..

world of goo...

is brilliant!!!! amazing! awesome physics simulation game...
finished 2 chapters with about 10-12 levels each.. very very innovative..

another one from hp...

chamber of secrets.. always liked this one..

“It only put me in Gryffindor,” said Harry in a defeated voice,
“because I asked not to go in Slytherin. . . .”
“Exactly,” said Dumbledore, beaming once more. “Which makes
you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that
show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

i thought...

the marauder's map was supposed to work only when harry was inside the school grounds.. then i realized i was thinking of it like a GPS! :D

harry potter...

i've mentioned before on this blog about how i follow the harry potter books.. and how much i like them.. in each book something stands out (it mostly happens to be something that wise ol' dumbledore says).. and i remember it for what seems like ever..

for example, one friend was talking to me about thrill rides and what it was about them that scared people.. i said that it was probably 'the unknown'.. and then i quoted a line from one of the HP books.. "fear of death and fear of dark are nothing but fears of the unknown".. i might be rephrasing it a little bit - i forgot the actual words.. and i feel that's true.. imagine if you completely knew what was going to happen it wouldn't be that scary anymore.. thrill rides add new twists and turns that keep us guessing, any new experience scares us at first..

another one i came across just now when i was the HP1 book again.. this line always rang true to me each time i read this book (like 7 or 8 times i guess)..

"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the
next great adventure." :)

nexus..

'the man from earth' movie could've been inspired by the 'requiem for methuselah' episode of star trek TOS...

life is like linux...

was a hectic day @ work when this hit me.. :D
life = linux coz it doesn't come with a (good) manual, you struggle to comprehend it and at times feel hopeless and just wanna give up, and then sometimes suddenly everything makes sense! LOL!

bigg confusion..

don't know whether to watch the tamil 'ravanan' or the hindi 'raavan'! :D
heard vikram's acting is really good in tamil, but i like abhishek bachchan better.. :D

in google reader....

what does it mean when people like a news feed? does it mean that they like the way the reporter put it or does it mean they like the news?
i ask this because in comic feeds and other places where creativity is involved, people like it because they appreciate the creativity.. confusing..

geeks n nerds

that xkcd cartoon abt geeks and nerds is funny.. i always am particular what they call whom.. i think i'm more of a geek than a nerd.. but well its a matter of opinion..

its really weird though that i like the geeks in most tv shows... bob saget in full house, jim parsons (sheldon cooper) in BBT, monica & chandler in friends..

But dude! He's got Heather!

LOL!
south park has some gross and weird stuff.. but i always try to look beyond all that and see the point they are trying to make with every episode..
the title of this post is from one of the episodes in Aspen.. the kids' parents are stuck in a timeshare presentation while the boys try to ski on the bunny slope.. stan gets pulled in to this weird but typical storyline of most movies.. where he has to ski race against this tough pro skier.. initially stan doesn't care and he's like 'whatever dude'... then he gets involved without really a reason!
stan: but dude.. he's got heather!
kyle: dude! u don't even know heather!
or something like that.. LOL!

i like to see analogies in most things.. and i felt that this was a kind of thing that happens to all of us.. we observe things and events happening in our life and we initially don't really care.. then somehow (stupidly) we get involved in all this worldly stuff and laugh and cry with it! weird and funny.. :)

what goes around comes around?

i don't believe in karma... i sure wish i did..
somebody suffering for the wrong they did to u would sure be sweet.. :D
but u probably shouldn't do the right thing just because you feel you would be punished otherwise..

chicken and egg... part 1

there are many things we see in life where we don't see the causality of something.. take this thing i observed a year back for example..
i noticed that most guys who drive convertibles are bald.. are they bald because they spent most of their youth stressed out earning their convertible? or are they bald because born rich they spent too much time driving the convertible with the top down? and if its the former then isn't that ironic? :D
the point i got from this was to be happy with whatever we have at the moment..

aspirations...

was watching old episodes of the BBT and was thinking of how well I could understand and in some cases relate to Sheldon Cooper... was thinking i could work as a geek therapist! LOL!

OMG!

i cant believe they made a spoof of SP in BMW! oh my god they killed kenny! ROFL!!
awesome one the episode was..
also liked the one where the microwave malfunctions and cory is transported to somewhere else.. and a few more with bits here and there.. nice TP..

movie time - part 2

watched 'Sherlock Holmes' played by Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law.. it can only be described as a travesty of the original image of Sherlock Holmes... Sir Arthur Conan Doyle must have turned over in his grave.. it was absolutely despicable..

i have nothing against the actors - robert downey is pretty good, as is jude law.. i have nothing against the direction and portrayal of tense situations.. i would have watched this movie happily and even appreciated the suspense were it the movie of a completely new fictional character who the movie writer just made up...

but unfortunately this is not true.. they are trying to portray Sherlock Holmes! and i have this indelible image of him.. have read all the books and have the complete anthology back home in India.. have read those books as a kid and completely cherish them..

Sherlock Holmes - he is not a man of action - he can fight if he needs to but not crassly like in the movie - every chance he gets.. he makes brilliant deductions and only describes the conclusions.. and gives the details behind it only if he is asked to.. he does experiments on many things but only when he needs to.. he is not described as extremely dirty is any of the books..

the movie makes him look like a bumbling idiot and goofball who is capable sometimes of making good deductions and seems to be dependent on Watson more than he should be.. and the encounter with Irene Adler is horrible.. the whole experienced wasn't one i'd go thru again..

i do not discourage making of period movies with suspense and thrilling incidents... but just the defacing of the indomitable spirit and image of a beloved storybook character

movie time... part 1

saw 'what's your rashee' last weekend... finally!
as with most Ashutosh Gowariker movies some of the prevalent social issues and situations came to light in the movie.. a flash of the Indian spirit - you could call it.. and also some scenes that can only be described as pseudo-emergencies... a relatively normal situation heightened and portrayed as more tense than it really is.. his signature is very clear..

the storyline was not that impressive.. Priyanka Chopra did a decent job.. but the issues i was talking about: like girls not being let to study further, marriage being the only way of escape for some girls.. i dont know if it's still there in India, not in major cities but may be in villages?

i don't believe much in zodiac signs as a sure indicator of a person's nature or behavior.. but observe some things sometimes..

why i love google - part 1

Google is one company most adored.. different people have different reasons.. and i have many..
take this for instance: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/google-acquires-aardvark.html
aardvark searches with social context (was reading the white paper).. is something that is really cool and until further tuned slightly bumpy.. i just adore it that google invests in such cool things.. some turn out great, some don't... but they invest in future and nobody can predict exactly how it would turn out..
must read lawrence lessig's stuff some time..

50 states

was watching the tahnksgiving episode of friends (7th season) where ross tries to remember the name of all 50 states.. so was trying to recollect the names myself.. could only remember like 45 of them..

here are the ones i could remember:

1. illinois
2. pennsylvania
3. maryland
4. new york
5. indiana
6. wisconsin
7. iowa
8. nebraska
9. new jersey
10. massachussets
11. connecticut
12. ohio
13. vermont
14. new hampshire
15. georgia
16. alabama
17. arkansas
18. kansas
19. missouri
20. oklahoma
21. california
22. nevada
23. utah
24. texas
25. new mexico
26. florida
27. tennesee
28. north carolina
29. south carolina
30. rhode island
31. north dakota
32. south dakota
33. washington
34. d.c
35. virginia
36. arizona
37. kentucky
38. minnesota
39. mississippi
40. montana
41. colorado
42. west virginia
43. wyoming
44. idaho
45. michigan

forgot:
- delaware
- maine
- alaska
- hawaii
- louisiana
- oregon

not bad i guess... left all the ez ones..

if life is just a show...

i want my money back! LOL!

old times...

'workspace augmentation of photon impingement through impurities removal'... suddenly remembered... used to read this a lot in grad school days... http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=18

this is going to hurt just a little bit...

went to the dentist today and every time i visit i think about this poem by Ogden Nash called 'This is going to hurt just a little bit' that i read in school.. i remember asking my brother to read it before his visit to the dentist thereby scaring him..

today was not so bad.. the doctor and the nurse were chatty and i was chatting along with them.. while waiting for the local anesthesia to kick in the doctor was asking me about movies that i liked.. i was generally saying that of the recent movies i had enjoyed 'avatar' and so on.. he was talking about the movie 'slum dog millionaire' and violent scenes that were there and how he couldn't watch it...

he said: 'i just hate to see people suffer so much, you know...'
i said: 'but you're a dentist!'

the doctor and the nurse were laughing for a whole minute.. it looked like i relaxed them more than they did me.. LOL!

windows media

why is windows media player playing a VOB file I had better than VLC???

like a kid in a candy store....

i was looking so hard for 2 videos online.. stuff in tv that i had watched in my younger days.. and i found one this weekend and it made me go back to the good old days...
one was an animation series that i used to watch on AXN (the action channel).. technology and animation that awed me... am so glad somebody else also liked it enough to post it online..
the second one... i'm still looking for it.. it's a series called 'animate your world'.. it used to come on cartoon network (i used to watch cartoon 24x7 when i was a kid.. god knows why.. i was totally happy..).. the video i'm talking about is not a 30-minute series.. it would be just for a minute or 2.. and it would be really thought-provoking (for kids and some older kids).. stuff like: 'its ok to make a mistake', 'think different' and lots of other stuff... i'm still not able to find it online.. but if i find it i would be one happy girl..

big bang theory...

i was watching episodes of season 1 and 2 for like the 4th time when i realized that there were some bloopers..

- in the dumpling paradox episode, penny plays halo 3 with sheldon, leonard and raj. but according to sheldon, halo night is wednesday night but penny wakes up in their apartment the next morning saying that its 'saturday' morning..

- rajesh actually talks in the first season in some episodes when penny is around.. esp the same halo night episode, he says something like 'oh sure.. cut the indian in half.. there are a billion more where he came from'...

n whats the deal with the name 'Rajesh Koothrapalli'... sounds like a telugu name but he lives with his family in delhi... and he also sings hindi lorees...

btw sheldon (jim parsons) rocks! i'm gonna build a fan site for him someday..

read this somewhere....

they say you will only change when the pain of remaining the
same is greater than the pain of changing...

impairment...

more often than not we resent some of our actions because we didn't think it through, or for that matter even think... a long time back i guess most of the indian people were very much concerned about this fact... drinking or tobacco was frowned upon since they were likely to impair judgement... even onions, garlic, drum sticks were all banned... interesting..

Kaminey

watched it last weekend... was really good.. priyanka chopra did superbly as a normal girl, enjoying her role every bit.. shahid kapur also shone.. the story is ok.. a little but not too violent... really funny in some places...

songs were the attention-grabbing feature... 'dhan te nan' was the best, followed by 'raat ke dhai baje' and then 'fatak'.. awesome choreography.. liked it a lot.. vishal bhardwaj has done a good job again..

memory associations...

memory associations are like soft links.... the target can be changed in time.. :D

unwritten

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten.....

natasha bedingfield - unwritten... like the music... love the lyrics :)

to be or not to be [choosy]....

watching tv flipping through the numerous channels i was getting bored of most of the stuff being telecast... i'm sure everyone must have felt this at one time or another.. i thought about the time when i was younger and we only had 2 channels in Doordarshan.. DD1 and DD2! and whatever program they decide to show i was watching it! the minute i was back from school.. i loved some.. others not so much... but i watched them all.. and when there was cable there was more channel surfing.. strange trend..

it led me to wonder... the more the options that we have, the less likelier it is to find something that we like! and the question: 'are we choosy because of the existence of so many choices?? or were all these options created because we were choosy??' !! i mean even in coffee shops you can customize a drink to infinity! 'non-fat no-whip 108 degrees with a shot of french vanilla'...

so if we take away all the choices and give only 2 (regular/decaf) does that mean people will go for one of these without thinking twice? it makes me think about all the choices we make... would be an interesting social experiment..

to finding yourself (your fragrance?)

from Arziyan (Delhi 6)... one of my fav songs in that movie...

Ohhh ek khushbu aati thi,
Oh ek khushbu aati thi,
Main bhatakta jaata tha,
Reshmi si maaya thi,
Aur main taktaa jaata tha,

Jab teri gali aaya, sach tabhi nazar aaya
Mujh mein hi woh khushbu thi,
Jisse tune milwaya
Maula maula maula mere maula

parents and kids...

a person i know was telling me about his daughter... as to how she is at the right age for traveling (she's not too crabby) and how he is going to enjoy the vacation with his family.. he said that he was enjoying every minute of this age when his daughter 'still liked them, and thought that they [her parents] knew something'...

hmm... profound statement.. do kids really stop liking parents when they grow up... sure they learn a lot more, and know more than parents after a certain age (discounting some life's lessons that parents know thru experience)... i think its ok for parents to not know everything.. kids will be ok with it...

as to not liking them... well understanding might be lacking... if each were more open to the others ideas, and paid some attention and made an effort to understand the other might that solve the problem??

Surya Movies!

I was just googling about Surya.. it was sad to see that there are not many websites dedicated to him or listing his recent or to be released movies... :D
so i'm going to try to make a compilation of his movies to start with, and am really looking forward to his next one...

i found an imdb entry after looking for a long time.. it should have been the first one in the list!! ;)

ok.. found a fan site after some looong search...
http://www.suryafansclub.com/filmography/surya-filmography/
some cool photos there... movies... hmm ayan wasn't that good.. didn't like it.. so next movies:

aadhavan - k.s ravikumar, surya and nayantara... should be time pass... estimated for release sometime this year...

singam - same director as vel (haven't seen that one - so can't comment), cop movie, should be good to see surya in cop uniform again..

mugamoodi - not too much info yet

ratha charithra - RGV movie!! wow! looking forward to this :)

formula for bypassing trouble....

read this quote today....

If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it around.
Trouble creates a capacity to handle it. I don't say embrace trouble; that's
as bad as treating it as an enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for
you'll see a lot of it and you had better be on speaking terms with it.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

liked it... by trouble of course i think he means trouble that we come across in our life that we can't control.. things that happen to us...

there's another sort of trouble which we cause to ourselves by the choices we make.. if those choices were made because we didn't have enough information, we can make better choices in the future based on our experience.. so its good..

if the choices were made because we didn't think, then we live with the consequences and/or choose to think before we make choices the next time..

my book review

i remember i wrote a book review for my school newsletter years back n i was trying to trace it... here it is:

Book Review — ‘Something Fresh’

For those who have read Wodehouse, ‘Blandings Castle’
needs no introduction. Pelham Grenville Wodehouse –
‘Plum’ as he is known affectionately – was one of the
greatest and most prolific of authors of humor novels and
short stories and plays. One of his fictional creations was
‘Blandings Castle’ – a place which was always the center
of action, the hustle and bustle of activity, where young
sundered hearts were sent on exile if they fell in love
with matches who the elders did not find suitable, where
the visitors bumped into relations they would rather
avoid, and yet where peace reigned as far as their host
Lord Emsworth was concerned.

The story of ‘Something Fresh’ (U.S Title: Something
New) however begins in a cul-de-sac in London, where
Ashe Marson finds himself cooped up, restless and unsatisfied
with his life as an author of ‘Gridley Quayle, Investigator’
a monthly series of detective stories. His thirst for
adventure, spurred on by the encouragement from a
young lady Ms. Joan Valentine staying in the same establishment,
leads him to accept a job as a valet to an
American millionaire who wants Ashe to steal back a
‘Scarab’ from the house of his host and father of his future
son-in-law Freddie Threepwood. Like all American
millionaires in Wodehouse’s creations, Mr. Peters suffers
from chronic dyspepsia and an extremely short-temper.

The plot becomes thicker, when Ashe finds himself accompanied
by Ms. Valentine herself apparently as the
parlor maid of Ms. Peters. They set upon a journey to
Blandings Castle, where Ashe is startled by the confoundedly
complex system of hierarchy among the servants of
the castle. When he manages to survive Beach, the butler
there are many things he has to conquer before the
scarab is within his reach. Rupert Baxter, the efficient
personal secretary of Clarence, the ninth Earl of
Emsworth, proves himself to be a pain in the neck to
Ashe as he does everything in his capacity to stop Ashe’s
plans of purloining the curio.

The other guests of the castle, meanwhile, ignored by
their host and having no means of amusement yearn for
a break in their dreary lives, when nothing less than a
shooting incident in the middle of the night presents itself
when the first daring attempt of Ashe is foiled by the
watchful Baxter. The rest of the story is about the totally
unpredictable series of events which lead to the displacement
of the much-sought after scarab to its rightful
place.

Wodehouse has reduced readers to convulsions of laughter
with his subtle and profound humor. ‘Something
Fresh’ is among the first books that introduce the life at
Blandings, the absent-minded and potty Lord Emsworth,
the blundering Freddie and the peaceful village and inhabitants
of Market Blandings, which will continue to hold
the special place it does in a Wodehousean’s heart.

indestructible....

was watching the movie 'X-men Origins: Wolverine' last friday night.. i loved this dialogue that came in the movie... it more or less goes like this: 'to make you indestructible we are first going to have to destroy you'.. of course they meant that to make wolverine indestructible by adding adamantium to his exoskeleton they would have to tunnel into his bones.. but it means a lot more when u think about it..

the harrowing experiences that we go through actually make us stronger.. we have to get destroyed at least once or twice before we become indestructible.. :) then if i think about this towards the end we r going to be the strongest and the calmest coz we have seen everything... right? :D

movies!!

watched a lottt of movies this weekend.. :D
'200 pounds beauty' - a korean movie with subtitles about the extreme makeover of a fat girl... a chick flick... it was funny n cute..
'Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' - funny... think i needed some pointers for some dialogues..
'Juno' - awwwwwesome movie... loved Ellen Page... shez the girl.. awesome movie and message.. think i liked her all the more bcoz shez tomboyish like me...

control system for life

set point - happiness.. :)

About Hackers

The meaning of the word 'hacker' has been degraded... when i read the original definition in RFC 1392 (I was amazed to find the definition in an RFC!! but i guess thats how it all started..) I was pretty surprised...

I like this definition too: "Any person who derives joy from discovering ways to circumvent limitations". This is an awesome concept. Most of us try to do this sometime, whether trying to discover a toll-free route to places, using gadgets to make work easy, may be even in filing tax returns! LOL!

Now, I use Winamp with classic skin (since its lighter, though it gives the old look).. the one diff between some new ones and the old one is that, the latter doesn't have a control to repeat just one track.. it has either 'repeat all' or 'repeat off'... hmmm should find a way to hack this through... :D

Baccckkkkkkkkk......

back to blogging after a long time.. getting right to the heart of the matter, i've always wanted to keep a list of all the books that I have read till date... i am a huge bookworm, and i felt it would be good to keep such a list for later review and maybe analysis to find how the books helped.. so here goes..

right now i'm reading a book called 'Zen Keys - A Guide to Zen Practice'... i got this in the local library after skimming thru various books about Zen philosophy.. i skipped all the preachy ones that treat you like you were a 5th grader, and got right to the ones that looked like they were at least addressing an adult.. this book has the experiences of this monk in a Zen monastery and i'm just really interested to know how this'll turn out.. :)

Swades

the movie did not become a huge hit.. it had a good plot, and screen play was not too bad.. in many ways it was very realistic.. and it has been inspiring to many... it may not have a very strong story, but it continues to be one of the trendsetting movies.

the songs are pretty good, and very apt. the picturizations of the songs are very realistic unlike many hindi movies. 'yunhi chala chal' is a very superb song. it just makes you want to keep on going, no matter what happens around you or to you...

while playing badminton, i have always observed that you only lose when you think the rally is over and give up. believe me when I say, that its all psychological. when you make up your mind and decide that you can hit a return shot no matter what the opponent's shot is (let it be a smash shot or a drop shot), nobody can stop you from a hitting a return back.. this is true not only in games but in real life...

thats why i chose this as a title for my blog (until i get more creative may b.. :))...

Yunhi chala chal rahi...
coz its not over until its over...

Starry-eyed...

I don't believe in reading my fortune.. I feel it sometimes can cause adverse effects.. but right now, I read some 3 different versions of my fortune-for-the-day.. so I figure theres no way that all the 3 predictions can happen at the same time.. sometime they r so contradictory that I have a good laugh over it..

sometimes the fortunes written in a fortune cookie don't even tell ur fortune.. it gives general advice.. or says general things about who u r..
n I found this funny quote somewhere..

Found in a fortune cookie: "You are a poor, pathetic, gullible fool who seeks advice from bakery products."

well my fortune for today says: "your long-term goals will be achieved today"....
I guess this means that I would finally be doing my laundry today.. lol!!

later...