New Tech Term Blues

Whew !!!

This is Terrific.

Its 1:20 am EST as I wrap up reading to know more about some more acronyms like EDM, XBAP, yada yada yada

It seems as I keep reading/understanding/learning/applying these terms in technology, I am beginning to get inundated.

Is this ever going to end ?

I don’t know but am sure, this will get me work and earning my moolah.

The fundamentals remain the same. But the ideas to implement are rehashed and abstracted to fit into some kind of steady logical extension which makes some sense and begets question why was this there not earlier ?

Is it the early adopters who drive these change requirements or is it the early stumbles ?

I am not yet lost and hope you are not too.

In humans with time, there are changes. Some so subtle that it surprises the moment you become self-conscious, and some so distinct that your aura allows it to occur.

I was mentally crazy and physically lazy about keeping up to date with the latest trends in tech markets, but worry no more, I am back and this is going to rock, I am going to be better.

Attitude Always Optimistic.

Quote

“A camel is a horse designed by committee.” (Source)

My First Ad

What is the Last Straw !?

From a personal point of view, I am one of the most impatient people around.

I have always believed in 'Persistence raises the level of your reward' but when it comes to waiting, I find myself quite wanting to achieve the virtue of patience.

It has been considered that wise people do not open their mouths till they have something to add to an conversation there by attributing to 'Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden'.

For as much as I know about India through its zillion stories and rich history, one thing is absolute 'India is a very patient country'. 'Father of the nation' symbolically and figuratively represents the virtues of the country which has been tolerant to innumerable wrongdoings against it.

A couple of decades back 'Silence and Non Action' against perpetuators of horrible crime by the government, I would have attributed it to weakness and division in the country, but today as I infer from news,analysis and posts in various media, I believe India is a very mature country and united under the facade.

But the patience/silence of a person is presumed to be its weakness by its enemies. That is exactly what has been happening currently. The anti establishmentarians and anti elements of peace are asking for wrath of the country by engaging in provoking incidents of violence in and around the world.

People never do what has to be done, they 'always' do what they want to do. Yesterday's attack on Convoy of Sri Lankan sports men is condemnable.

How many more people have to suffer and feel insecure before action is taken to correct the root of all the nefarious activities ?

What I can predict from here is, as a country we are running out of patience and its just a matter of time, when the anti-elements will be hunted and wiped out from the face of the world.

February 2009 Read/Watch/Learnt Update

 

This has been another month with lots of DVD viewing's and book reading.

Date	Name	Detail	Rating	Comment	Category	Status
Feb 2009	The Great Debaters		4/5		DVD	Impressive
	The Pink Panther		3/5		DVD
	The Fountainhead		3.5/5		DVD
	The Beautiful Mind		4/5		DVD	Impressive
	Amadeus		3.5/5		DVD	Impressive
	Medieval Times		2.5/5		Restaurant
	Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People		4.5/5		Audio Book
	Back To The Future		3.5/5		DVD
	The Truman Show		4/5		DVD
	Psych Season One Disc One		4.5/5		DVD	Impressive
	Master Of The Game	Sidney Sheldon	4/5		Book
	American Born Chinese	Comic Book	3.5/5		Book
	Shangai Baby	Lei Wui	2.5/5		Book	Entertaining First Half
	Sadhu Miranda		3.5/5	Tamil	DVD
	Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna		3.0/5	Hindi	DVD
	Airplane – Don't call me Shirley		2.0/5		DVD
	Villu		1.0/5.0	Tamil	DVD
	Padikathavan		1.0/5.0	Tamil	DVD
	Santosh Subramaniam		3.0/5	Tamil	DVD
	Glengarry Glenross		3.5/5		DVD	Good
	The Boiler Room		3.0/5		DVD	Good
	Pulp Fiction		4.0/5		DVD	Impressive
	Bourne Identity		3.5/5		DVD
	Psych Season One Disc Two		4.0/5		DVD

Mind Tune Loop

 

There are some tunes/songs which keep looping in my mind throughout the day and sometimes for several days together.

Some times it feels pleasant but some times it drives me crazy.

The one I am currently hearing in my mind is children poem/song.

B I N G O

B I N G O

B I N G O

It keeps going on and on and on and on.

You can listen it here.

I had to post it and hope that now I get it off my mind.

OSCAR kondaattam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! from my heart :)

After the OSCAR awards ceremony a friend of mine emailed me this. I had to post this.

After 17 years, Oscar comes back to India with a bang whose name is "Slumdog Millionaire" . :)) And worth the wait, should I say :))

Three Indians who have made the whole country proud surely deserve much more than a Red Carpet and an Oscar.

"This is just not a sound award, but a history being handed over" said Rusel Pookkkutty - the third Indian to win Oscar for the Best Sound Mixing for Slumdog Millionaire. Hadn't he been a failure in the Medical Entrance Examinations, he wouldn't be an Oscar winner today :)

"All my life I had the choice between hate and love. I choose love and here I am" - are the Golden Words uttered by A.R.Rahman when he recd the prestigious Oscar Award. He has recd. not ONE but TWO Oscars for The Best Original Score and The Best Song!

Lyricist Gulzar shares the award with ARR for the Best Song - "Jai hO" written for the film. Look at the instinct of the lyricist, who said it even before he got it "Jai hO" which literally means "Gotta win" :))))

The film itself was nominated under 9 categories and it swept 8 awards in total, which is incredible!

It's a great day for India!!!!!!! !!! And a memorable and a pride moment for us Tamilians.

We wish ARR all the best for more such opportunities for making India proud !

Best,
From An ordinary music lover.

'Slumdog Millionaire' - IMHO an Average Masala film

 

Will 'Slumdog Millionaire' win the Best Picture award tonight in the OSCAR's ?

When I watched this movie, it was in its fourth week of run in the USA and the buzz surrounding it was enormous. Most of my friends were impressed by the movie and the felt quite good. The Media was declaring it as the best movie to come out this year.

It came as a no surprise for many that it was in the nominations for the best picture of the year.

I am still not certain why this movie has been able to touch everybody but not impress me.

Music by A.R. Rahman is certainly the highlight of the movie but I have heard so many excellent A.R.R. Creations and I know for certain this is not A.R.R's best.

The story about 'A Dharavi Guy' able to answer all the questions of the KBC Show and how his life is interspersed with the questions of the quiz is hardly innovative or unique. I had last year seen two movies which mentioned about this 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' show. One was a french movie 'My Best Friend' and another was a Tamil movie 'Koteeswaran'

So the novelty factor or the innovation factor was absent for me. So when the first flashback was over, the idea of visiting flashback for every question does not seem attractive OR does it?

Secondly when you watch the movies which are non-linear in narration, it takes brilliance of camera work, script, dialogue, cinematography and background music to keep the attention of the viewer.

'Slumdog' failed here for me. It did not hold my attention for long and I was lost in my own thoughts and reactions to some of the not-so-pleasing scene's in the movie.

Recent Best Picture OSCAR Movies like 'CRASH' ,'Forrest Gump' are up to the mark aesthetically, dialogues, background score in short in all aspects.

According to me (only me) Slumdog is a big letdown in all these. That is why in my humble opinion SM is an average Masala movie and should miss out on the OSCAR 'Best Picture' award.

Fireball Video

 

Driving back from L.A. to Tracy CA on 26th Dec 2008 I happened to witness the streak of fireball at around 2:00 am in the morning.

It was only for a couple of seconds but the sight was unforgettable. I twitted about it but missed photographing or video shooting it. I googled about it the next day and found that it was common occurrence and the term for it was California Fireball.

Today I was amazed to watch this video of Fireball blazing across the sky in broad daylight. Thanks to the Video Shooter.

A.R. Rahman wins OSCAR

"If you look deeply enough for a long time in a random set of numbers, you will find some odd pattern in subsets of number." - KRK

It has happened time and again.

Books like 'Freakonomics' , 'Outliers', 'Tipping point' , 'Fooled by randomness', 'Black Swan' etc mention about various events and successfully investigate how they are related. In some of the cases, its a straightforward link and in others its a bit extrapolated inference.

'Hindsight' is an exact science. Its foresight what most people lack.

Today I was again wondering what are the Chances that A.R. Rahman will be awarded the OSCAR.

Before the nominations were announced, I did not think he had any chance. Reason. He is a brilliant composer and many of his works are Top Award worthy. ARR has given better works than SM. But now that SM has made it through to the Top 5 I am sure it will WIN.

Why do I think So? Let me put my case based on a pattern I have seen oft repeated.

In 1992 I was amazed when a Indian, Madhu Sapre, was ranked the second runner up in the Miss Universe event.

I was pleased that some Indian Girl had made it in international beauty contest. There was a sense of pride.

In 1994 another set of Indians Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen won both Miss World and Miss Universe Title respectively.

Subsequently in 2000 again Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta won these events.

These two events really had no precedent in India.

But there was a pattern pickup by the Media and some Observant Mind. Too good to resist.

Conspiracy theories floated that India was a market for beauty products and that is why the contests were rigged to award Indian contestants.

Of course this might be far-fetched but once you hear the theory you tend to think.

Its a unique duel of the thoughts in the BRAIN where you want to accept only one version of the event and disregard the other but you cannot do so.

This has happened to me more than once but with experience I have realized Its better to keep a little Trust. I just accept one version of the fact. The other version lies dormant to be awakened one day just in case.

Just about a month back I read 'The White Tiger' by Arvind Adiga.

I did not like the book. It could have been better. But know what it has won the booker prize.

I did not read all the rest of the nominated books but I wonder why nobody this year has written anything better to appeal to the Judges.

So coming back to ARR Nomination following an Indian Winning the Booker Prize, I believe ARR is going to win the OSCAR this year. Of course the composition has won the BAFTA and Golden Globes already.

So Congratulations in Advance to you A.R.R. Sir and hope you have the After Win Speech ready.

Cheerio !!!