Today was an eventful day. The first big event was the movie "Cinderella Man" that i got to watch, and it was quite an experience! The movie had all the elements of a blockbuster, yet failed at the box-office due to an over-dose of boxing movies in the recent past. Russell Crowe's acting, as always, was outstanding!
The second not-so-important event was the road accident, on my bike. Although I wasn't travelling fast, I was left with lots of bruises all over the body with a few minute ones on the face too. And a few aches here and there....nothing dangerous though! As soon as i got up from the road a BIG smile broke upon my face, thankful of the fact that myself,my pillion rider(my close friend) and my bike were all safe! Perhaps this is life's way of instructing one to stay alert at all times and never give in to distractions!
Well, I'm leaving to bangalore tonight due to an unexpected engagement and wont be back until Monday. Ciao!
Yeah...this one makes me proud! To be googled is a gooooood feeling!! Check out the latest Google Blog Search. It's sure to impress, just like all of their other tools and services!
Actually, to make things easier, you'll can search using the horizontal Navigation Bar at the top of this webpage since Google Blog Search has been integrated into it too.
People, please check this out. This news might be pretty outdated but it's for those of you who didn't know!
Type the word "failure" in googleand check out the first search result that appears! Then, you'll know why it's the best and also the most intelligent search engine out here!! ;)
Been watching a lot of movies of late, and here are small reviews on 3 of the most recent ones.
Madagascar
Madagascar is yet another milestone in animation movie-making! It has the unique distinction of being the first movie to be shot in the latest cutting edge digital format called DLP Projection(No people, RDX is not its name but just a marketing gimmick; a brand name given by the Sathyam theatres). Sathyam holds the unique distinction of being the only multiplex to have two of these projectors, in India. Each of these projectors cost around 60 lakhs rupees with an additional 15 lakhs for the computer servers!!
The brand of humour portrayed was more on the slapstick variety attuned to younger audience's tastes. But adults beware, get ready to have a laugh riot! The strengths of the movie are the characterisation and the amazing animation. Each character is portrayed beautifully and with a lot of imagination. The quality of the picture was extremely crisp and vivid.
Madagascar certainly isnt an 'Incredibles' or a 'Finding Nemo' but has its own share of pros and cons. But if one watches it without any expectations, it is bound to bring a rather BIG smile!
The Butterfly Effect A very good movie bordering on science-fiction and thrills to thoroughly entertain the audience. The movie's title is supposed to be based on the "Butterfly Effect" proposed by the theory of Chaos. According to this effect, an event as insignificant as the fluttering of a butterfly's wings can alter future events,across the globe, to a catastrophic level! The name,with respect to the movie, is also supposed to be a metaphor for the shape of the brain in a brain scan report.
The movie is completely based on the hero Ashton Kutcher's childhood blackouts and his ability to transform things by being able to re-live his past, with the help of acquired supernatural powers. There are a number of timelines which appear sequentially, throughout the movie and it makes for 'involved' viewing!
Sin City
Possibly one of the most sophisticated and state-of-the-art movie in the recent past, Sin City stands out as a truly outstanding achievement in film-making. Whats unbelievable is the fact that the entire movie is shot in Black and White, with vivid doses of colour superimposed upon it, wherever required! And the entire movie has an unbelievable comic-book feel to it, without compromising on realism or being classified as a fantasy!
The movie would never release in India thanks to casual nudity and filthy language. But none of these stand as an obstacle in thoroughly enjoying and marvelling at the final product! Its a definite must-see!!
And whats more, a scene in this movie has also been guest directed by Quentin Tarantino(for a publicly accepted sum of US $1!).
Yesterday, I was struck with one of the biggest shocks of my life!!! And i'm sure all my 'Bhavan's Rajaji Vidyashram' colleagues would agree. The school's current principal and maths teacher has been awarded the national award for the Best Teacher for the year 2004 by the Ministry of Human Resources !!! It was presented to him by our President, APJ Abdul Kalam. Hmmm...let us further explore the history of this illustrious maths teacher....
To begin with, he used to always arrive 15 minutes late and leave 15 minutes early, for every 40-minute class!! He used to avoid attending more than 75% of his own classes. He was by far one of the worst teacher's i've ever seen and he's the kind of stuff that all teacher-jokes are made up of. The biggest problem with him was..He never ever 'taught'!
He re-defined the very term "Teacher" (and anagram-ed it to "cheater")by being very adept at perfectly replicating every intricate detail of a mathematical problem that was worked out in the study guide,onto the blackboard.Its another story that his office is colourfully adorned with millions of these study guides!
Some of his other achievements are listed below. He was...
one of the main inspirations for many a person to hate mathematics till their grave.
the same guy who completed the commerce students' 11th standard portions after their final exams got over, just so that they weren't deprived of the knowledge!(and ofcourse he never completed their 12th std portions on time)
the guy who had the unique distinction of being able to ride his scooter with both his eyes closed(umm...actually..he always sleeps)!!
There was one instance when a student(inbetween his own blissful sleep) got up and asked him a doubt. Once confronted, he started staring at the guide book continuously and began scratching his head rather stupidly. The student who had posed the question got so tired of standing that he decided to sit down and start chatting with his neighnours. After a while, we realised that our 'teacher' was nowhere to be seen! When we peeped out of the classroom, we saw that he had scurried to the end of the corridor and turned away to vanish for good!!
And listen to this guys...The article also says that he hails from a family of teachers who have, for generations, dedicated their lives to the cause of education... :D :D :D...There couldnt have been a more blatant lie; The truth: He is the kind of teacher that every student's worst nightmare is made up of!!!
Final Question: Are these the kind of vampires(knowledge sucking beings) that this country would honour? Is there absolutely no respite for students?
Answer from 'teacher'(with an evil grin and glinting canines) : Absolutely not! There's no escaping from our clan. The broth brews best with everybody's blood!!
For the past few days i had been intrigued by a constantly recurring question... "Why would a devastating hurricane such as the recent one in New Orleans be so incongruously named 'Katrina'?"
The very utterance of the word conjures up sexy images of the Bollywood bombshell(with the suffix 'Kaif'), if not yet another American or Spanish babe!! The name oozes of sensuality and charm, which is in complete contrast with the event currently associated with it!
My moment of enlightenment occurred when one of my US-based cousins popped up on the messenger. I asked him "Hey, why do Americans come up with such fancy names as 'Katrina' for such a destructive catastrophe? Are they trying to dissociate themselves from the realities of the aftermath, by naming it thus? ".
He was initially amused by the extent of my thoughts regarding the baptism! But he proceeded to explain that this was a result of their tradition of naming all cyclones in an alphabetical order in the sequence of their appearance.This helps them identify each storm individually and track their movements across the ocean, thereby eliminating confusion.
The entire name-list comprises of three categories of storms, with six namelists for each. The same lists are recycled every six years, unless certain names are dumped. Now, this was quite a revelation to a guy like myself, who had always thought of America to be an attention seeking country!
Although the Americans claim they dont have enough money to rebuild, their brand-building has been impeccable, thanks chiefly to the media's unconditional help! They have yet again succeeded in building a globally recognised brand at zero marketing costs!
Here's my first blog ever! This particular incident happened during a road trip to bangalore along with dad,a cousin and my infamous grandmom.
It was a hot summer afternoon and the AC was blowing at maximum pace. Since the highway was deserted, i was cruising at around 120 kmph while my cousin sat beside me, in the passenger's seat. I suddenly noticed something out of the corner of my eye, in the rear view mirror. My grandmom, who was seated at the left rear corner of the car, against the window, was actually tilting to her right by supporting her elbow on the seat and staring at the road ahead with an absolutely terrified look!
Only then did i remember that amidst all her big-talk, she had an eternal fear of speeding vehicles and hallucinatory accidents! I was anticipating a helpless whine accompanied with some advice from her, when instead she gave a huge sigh of relief saying "Ohhhhh 30 km speed-aa?? seri, seri(ok,ok)...continue..." and laid back comfortably on her seat again!
Frankly i was puzzled as to where she got those rather faulty statistics from, and started scanning the dashboard area. And then, i realised her goof-up! From her seating position, she had mistaken the smaller tachometer (rpm meter) to be the speedometer and the number 3 (x1000 rpm),indicated by the needle, to be the 'tens' digit of the speed of the vehicle!!
The entire car erupted into laughter, as my grandmom smiled weakly, trying to cover up her embarassment. Perhaps its time grandmoms shifted to futuristic versions of their age-old companion...the wheelchair!!
