Tuesday, July 27, 2004
I don't know what inspires Hindi movie makers to make movies and for Hindi movie buffs to watch them!!? I just saw Hum-Tum today. I am usually very choosy about the Hindi movies that I watch. There is such a large proportion of them that are so phenomenally bad, that I usually ask 10 people for an opinion before I take a leap into a movie theater.
Hum-Tum was another typical Hindi movie... best forgotten even before one leaves the movie theater. One knows the end before the movie begins and one even knows that there are going to be 10 foreign locations where the movie will be shot. That's the only thing that distinguishes Hindi movies these days... the locations that the same kinds of scenes will be shot. The hero is the typical bad boy who flirts with every girl and the girl is always projected as the one true and honest person, who'd never make a mistake.
One pleasant change in this movie is that a Computer Engineer (like myself) is projected as an ideal man, and I couldnt agree more this bit. ;-)(Abhishek Bachchan is a Computer Engineer in the movie.)
Although almost all Hindi movies are musicals, this one failed to impress in that department as well. Saif Ali Khan's acting was probably the saving grace, miles apart from everyone else's. The dialogues are rather cliched... I am now collecting the large number of brickbats that I am going to hurl at people who recommended this movie to me and caused me to waste 3 hours or my life.
Hum-Tum was another typical Hindi movie... best forgotten even before one leaves the movie theater. One knows the end before the movie begins and one even knows that there are going to be 10 foreign locations where the movie will be shot. That's the only thing that distinguishes Hindi movies these days... the locations that the same kinds of scenes will be shot. The hero is the typical bad boy who flirts with every girl and the girl is always projected as the one true and honest person, who'd never make a mistake.
One pleasant change in this movie is that a Computer Engineer (like myself) is projected as an ideal man, and I couldnt agree more this bit. ;-)(Abhishek Bachchan is a Computer Engineer in the movie.)
Although almost all Hindi movies are musicals, this one failed to impress in that department as well. Saif Ali Khan's acting was probably the saving grace, miles apart from everyone else's. The dialogues are rather cliched... I am now collecting the large number of brickbats that I am going to hurl at people who recommended this movie to me and caused me to waste 3 hours or my life.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Top few Reactions on the photos...
1) Man, you clicked these photos?! You gotta be kidding. Where did you dhap them from?
2) Ah... its my gene's... you get the photography thing from me!
3) I have dial-up I am not going to spend time looking at your photos! (reaction not expressed)
4) I have a black and white monitor of low resolution... why did you make them so big?
5) Some Digital cameras can make even idiots get good photos. Which one do you have?
1) Man, you clicked these photos?! You gotta be kidding. Where did you dhap them from?
2) Ah... its my gene's... you get the photography thing from me!
3) I have dial-up I am not going to spend time looking at your photos! (reaction not expressed)
4) I have a black and white monitor of low resolution... why did you make them so big?
5) Some Digital cameras can make even idiots get good photos. Which one do you have?
Friday, July 16, 2004
Online Photo-Exhibition
You are invited to a SlideShow of the best of my photos from last year. These are mostly from Madison, Seattle, Chicago and Louisville.For best results please view the pictures in Full-Screen mode. (Press F11 to Enter and Exit Full-Screen Mode). Dial-up viewers please be patient! :-)
Click Here -> Online Photo Exhibition
Friday, July 09, 2004
On becoming a Hyper-Intelligent Pan-Dimensional Being...
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy says that "Mice are not, as is commonly assumed on Earth, small white squeaking animals who spend a lot of time being experimented on.
In fact, they are the protrusions into our dimension of hyper-intellegent pan-dimensional beings. These beings are in fact responsible for the creation of the Earth."
So this week I decided that I was going to turn into a guinea pig. This is one of my last-ditch attempts at becoming intelligent if not hyper-intelligent and develop some sort of a kinship with the creators of the Earth. I am growing in every dimension possible in any case, why not just turn pan-dimensional and give myself a run for my money! And when you're as cash-strapped as I am these days, the only way to make a living is to become a subject for some experiments.(I don't have a summer job and hence I am lil BROKE.)
This is the cool part about being at a large research university like the University of Wisconsin - Madison. There are soo many people doing all kinds of experiments that they need subjects to perform experiments on. For instance one of these experiments is trying to prove that exercises that stretch muscles have a adverse impact on the human body compared to the exercises that compress muscles. Another experiment in the Department of Psychology here needs subjects for studying the human memory. Well and they pay to the tune of 20$ an hour... If you add all these components up, I might make something like 300$ this month just for being a guinea-pig. So this really does sound HYPER-intelligent!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy says that "Mice are not, as is commonly assumed on Earth, small white squeaking animals who spend a lot of time being experimented on.
In fact, they are the protrusions into our dimension of hyper-intellegent pan-dimensional beings. These beings are in fact responsible for the creation of the Earth."
So this week I decided that I was going to turn into a guinea pig. This is one of my last-ditch attempts at becoming intelligent if not hyper-intelligent and develop some sort of a kinship with the creators of the Earth. I am growing in every dimension possible in any case, why not just turn pan-dimensional and give myself a run for my money! And when you're as cash-strapped as I am these days, the only way to make a living is to become a subject for some experiments.(I don't have a summer job and hence I am lil BROKE.)
This is the cool part about being at a large research university like the University of Wisconsin - Madison. There are soo many people doing all kinds of experiments that they need subjects to perform experiments on. For instance one of these experiments is trying to prove that exercises that stretch muscles have a adverse impact on the human body compared to the exercises that compress muscles. Another experiment in the Department of Psychology here needs subjects for studying the human memory. Well and they pay to the tune of 20$ an hour... If you add all these components up, I might make something like 300$ this month just for being a guinea-pig. So this really does sound HYPER-intelligent!
Monday, July 05, 2004
Credit cards that give you credit!
Tao Philosophy propounds the yin-yang principle that says that Good Seasons Follow Bad (and vice versa) and that there are good times in bad seasons (and vice versa as well). This they depict in the symbol shown below.
The events over the last week have convinced me of the truth of this principle. Ofcourse the integrating theme in my life is that it's all screwed up!! Initially I was in a great season... One of the greatest inventions from America is cashback for spending money on credit cards. My favourite card is from Amazon.com and they send you a 25$ coupon for every 1000$ you spend on it. The coupon can only be used at Amazon.com, so I get myself some nice gifts every few months. Last time I got the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Compendium and Beatles No 1 CD. This month I ordered The Complete Seasons 3 and 7 of Friends on DVD. Yoohoo for the good times!!
Ofcourse you always know at the back of your mind that the bad times had to follow. The DVD sets were being shipped to my old address from a year ago. Now I am certain if someone were to have these delivered to their house by mistake, they wouldn't hesitate to keep them and consider is divine justice for their goodness. So I made many a frantic call to UPS and they asked me to call them the day I see the online status change to "On Delivery". So I do that and they say that they would try to get in touch with the driver and ask him to make the change. Bad times persist... a few hours later, the status read "Delivered" and I was still far from being be-"Friend"-ded or dead. So they messed up ofcourse and thankfully I got the parcel from a dude in the apt office, who didnt even realise that I wasnt staying there any longer. Well so I am back in the yang.. or is it the yin?!;-)
This bit goes slightly against the Tao, but who cares let the good times roll. I got myself a Mastercard from Barnes and Noble. I dont know how this works but I spent just 200$ on it and they sent me a 50$ coupon!(GO figure... even I dont know why!) So now I am making up a list of things I should buy there... I am thinking of a large puzzle... like 1000 pieces or something. Also I am trying to look for a poster of the Chrysler in New York. It's one of the most elegant buildings in the world, and would be another nice thing to adorn the walls of my home. Any help with the shopping would be appreciated, so do drop a line if you can suggest something nice.:-)
Tao Philosophy propounds the yin-yang principle that says that Good Seasons Follow Bad (and vice versa) and that there are good times in bad seasons (and vice versa as well). This they depict in the symbol shown below.
The events over the last week have convinced me of the truth of this principle. Ofcourse the integrating theme in my life is that it's all screwed up!! Initially I was in a great season... One of the greatest inventions from America is cashback for spending money on credit cards. My favourite card is from Amazon.com and they send you a 25$ coupon for every 1000$ you spend on it. The coupon can only be used at Amazon.com, so I get myself some nice gifts every few months. Last time I got the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Compendium and Beatles No 1 CD. This month I ordered The Complete Seasons 3 and 7 of Friends on DVD. Yoohoo for the good times!!
Ofcourse you always know at the back of your mind that the bad times had to follow. The DVD sets were being shipped to my old address from a year ago. Now I am certain if someone were to have these delivered to their house by mistake, they wouldn't hesitate to keep them and consider is divine justice for their goodness. So I made many a frantic call to UPS and they asked me to call them the day I see the online status change to "On Delivery". So I do that and they say that they would try to get in touch with the driver and ask him to make the change. Bad times persist... a few hours later, the status read "Delivered" and I was still far from being be-"Friend"-ded or dead. So they messed up ofcourse and thankfully I got the parcel from a dude in the apt office, who didnt even realise that I wasnt staying there any longer. Well so I am back in the yang.. or is it the yin?!;-)
This bit goes slightly against the Tao, but who cares let the good times roll. I got myself a Mastercard from Barnes and Noble. I dont know how this works but I spent just 200$ on it and they sent me a 50$ coupon!(GO figure... even I dont know why!) So now I am making up a list of things I should buy there... I am thinking of a large puzzle... like 1000 pieces or something. Also I am trying to look for a poster of the Chrysler in New York. It's one of the most elegant buildings in the world, and would be another nice thing to adorn the walls of my home. Any help with the shopping would be appreciated, so do drop a line if you can suggest something nice.:-)
