Macro

Mommy, what must I do?

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So I was flying back from San Jose last week in the new Virgin America airways (Short review: Nice decor, 1 or 2 hot hostesses, carefree airline and attitude, bad seats, and a TV system which is like everything else in this world: BETA. I hope the airline is not.) when an ad caught my eye. It was supposed to be a serious ad, but it left me guffawing with laughter.

It was an ad by Department of Homeland Security about what to do in times of a terrorist attack. The idea behind, everyone “must have a plan” in times of terrorist attack (I can’t think why DHS would induce fear tactics, but anyways).

At some point a cute little kid with a concerned look addresses us: “Mommy what must I do?”

The voice-over then booms – “Everyone must have plan in times terrorist attack”

The cute kid again: “Should I go to my neighbor’s house?”

I am sorry, I didnt get the next part of the ad at all – I was laughing by then. So the plan for a terrorist attack for a kid is: go to your neighbor’s house.

How wonderful!! Why aren’t plans so simple all the times?

And eh… I might as well add… yes, San Jose it is where I move 😀

Get a grip, Apple!

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Allright, I love the MAC. Ever since I’ve converted, I have found little or no reason to switch back to Windows. But at the same token, I refuse to be taken into the group of these Apple fanboy and fanatics who seem to thrive on every single news item that comes out of the infinite loop office. “Jobs took a leak today – Oh wow!!”, “Oh look, there’s a new shiny mouse that supports double click” and such.

One such stupid event happened yesterday. The topic, according to Jobs, updated iMacs.

I can’t fathom a reason why changing the color on a computer merits a full blown media event with almost every news worthy blog out there whoring over each detail. Real time photos must be provided, real time data must be presented, heck every single small quark must be deftly given to Apple fanboys to their appeasement. As far as I know this is what the whole media event was all about:

“Look Ma, the iMacs are in aluminum colors!!””

“I can split my iPhoto Library – oh wow!!!”

“Mac Minis get core 2 duos” (Oh wait, aren’t core 2 duos like, the norm these days? Whats new…)

“Look Ma, the iMac has a sleeker keyboard!”

“I can send movies to Youtube directly through iMovie – OMG – and get it on to my iPhone – OMG OMG!!”

And of the types – I fail to understand. What was this whole event about? Why such hype and hoopla over a change of color of an iMAC. Why so much fuss over minor updates to software?

Apple fanboys need to get a life! That said, I demand that Apple release a touch sensitive keyboard immediately!

Bourne, Jason Bourne

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Here’s why you MUST catch up on the best threequel of the year:

Matt Damon. James Bond and Ethan Hunt suddenly look old and haggard in front of mean i-mean-business Jason Bourne. Matt Damon gives it his best – fierce and likeable!

Paul Greengrass. He’s on my list of my must-watch-any-movie-he-makes director list. Bourne Supremacy was supreme, United 93 further cemented his touch, and Bourne Ultimatum proves he’s the ultimate creator of edge-of-seat action. Heck, I demand henceforth every single action movie be made by him. Period.

If there is one threequel to watch this summer, it is this one. Bourne 3 beats the crap out of Spidey 3, Shrek 3, Pirates 3 and another part 3 by a distance.

Finally a spy thriller that’s intelligent; the hero doesnt take the CIA to be idiots. The CIA don’t take Bourne to be an idiot. Result – an exciting cat and mouse game played throughout the movie.

This is how books written decades ago should be adapted. Especially spy dramas. Forget the fact that Bourne series has little resemblance to the original trilogy. Heck, Robert Ludlum would be smiling in his grave, perhaps harboring a wish to have written the screenplay himself.

A director who knows how to build drama and action from the first scene to the very last scene. Not a minute extra is wasted, not one wasted scene. Jason Bourne is on the run, and he has no time. The audience must simply catch up or be left behind.

Elongated chase sequences which get your adrenaline rushing. The waterloo station action is simply astounding for its drama – a single scene taken from hundred different angles all depicting the same thing in real time; has to be watched to understand what I mean.

Locales – every spy thriller must traverse the world. This is no different. A spy thriller without Moscow, London, Paris and Italy is not a spy thriller. We get to see all of them.

Paul Greengrass’s direction. Did I mention that already?

Easily the best action movie I’ve seen since…. Bourne Supremacy. Watch it or be left out. Certified A++ movie.

Educational Discontent

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One of things that irks me about people (read: Desi NRIs) wanting to stay back in America is they want to secure a better “education” for their children. This, coming from well educated NRIs holding good posts, mostly in Tech industry. Exactly what they mean by “better education” fails me; as I see it, you wouldn’t be here if you were not qualified anyways. And you gained that qualification by staying back and studying in India, thank you! Heck you wouldn’t even get admission in a good university or come here on a project if you were not qualified enough to do so.

I wonder why there is this bizarre fascination that western education is way better than Indian education is instilled upon them. And I am not talking college or graduate education here – I am talking education at root levels, from grade 1 to 12. Agreed, Education in India is a mess, but education out here is not doing great either – there’s a severe shortage of teachers in the country, schools are rarely safe, there is no uniformity in the way the kids are taught, drugs and sex are pretty much the norm in almost public schools. Good education, yeah right.

Instead of complaining about how good or bad education is in India or US, what people must take from it is the good parts of both the systems. For example, the overall grade system prevalent here is much better than all-or-nothing approach of our examination style. But by the same token, the content in Indian education system is way more developed and far reaching. One only needs to take a look at history and the knowledge most Indian kids have of the world vs kids in this country.

Educational reforms in our country are a must – but should the content be contested? I am not sure – I think we are doing fine there. What we need is a better system to evaluate students and their strengths and get out of the age old one exam policy. Other than that, I think our educational system is not as horrid as some desi NRIs would like to show off.

Deluxe

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At the Indian store last evening, while I was trying to navigate my way through a jar full of assorted to find the supari of my choice (a.k.A., Laxmi, paradoxically written in Urdu and made in Pakistan), I flipped upon another brand, called “Shaan” and underneath the bold logo the words “Deluxe supari“.

At that instant, it stuck me – when was the last time I’ve heard of something being labeled as Deluxe to make it look more posh and and something higher than your usual fare. Not in a while actually. And then it stuck me – The word Deluxe and its branding quite predominantly happens to be an Indian thing.

Seriously. If you’ve lived in India long enough then you must have surely come across these terms:

“AC Deluxe Room” – Trust me, almost every hotel I’ve been in India (save probably the five stars) always have a room – Deluxe Room, Deluxe Double, AC, AC Deluxe, Deluxe-this, Deluxe that. At that point in time, I fell for it – the word Deluxe automatically ensured it was classy, higher than the usual stuff, and because it was only few rupees more, I could afford a better Deluxe room. Never mind the fact that if I had tried, the deluxe and non-deluxe rooms would have been pretty similar…

“Deluxe Coach” – Travel operators, especially Bus operators seem to have an unique love for Deluxe. There’s always a Deluxe Coach, Deluxe Seat – heck I have seen even VRLs spotting AC Deluxe Coaches; As if the AC Deluxe coach would somehow be much better than normal Deluxe coach. I have tried it too, to disastrous results. The AC Deluxe coach had the AC only from 11.00pm in the night to 7.00am in the morning, which is when it worked. Nonetheless, this Deluxe obsession remains rampant amongst travel operators. I have been Deluxe tempos too…

Believe it or not, I have actually seen “Deluxe Thaali” listed in a restaurant menu, and have ordered it thinking it must be something special. It was no doubts as the number of condiments significantly increased between non-deluxe and deluxe thaalis.

Then there was this Deluxe Hotel which we had passed on our way to my village. It was named “Deluxe” hotel and had a huge advertising board which had the words “Lift Facility Available” written in large letters as one of its features… don’t really know which century the owners lived in.

Come to think of it, I think the word deluxe has been used and maximized in India – I am not sure how it picked up and where it picked up from; but I am pretty sure that you can go to any remotest corner of India and offer someone a Deluxe product, and they’ll fall for it.

Any other deluxe items I missed out on this post? List them in comments 😀

Blogging

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An afternoon conversation between me and the Jedi

Suyog Deshpande: I think blogs are becoming useless
Suyog Deshpande: Everyone wants to write a long rambling post showing how smart they are
Suyog Deshpande: but they don’t make much sense!
carefreechap: that is very true
carefreechap: we need a new medium to express ourselves
carefreechap: maybe medium isnt the problem
carefreechap: maybe the problem is people just wont shut up !!!!

Eh? 🙂

Bliss

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My version of pure bliss.

Take a 10 minute walk to the outdoor pool; get there by 6.10 pm

Stretch for 5 minutes, then get into the pleasant warm water.

Do:

10 x 25 meters warm up laps.

100 x 5 meter laps at 2.45 minutes with 45 second break between each 100 meters.

5 mins break

100 x 5 meter laps at 2.45 minutes with 30 second break, decreasing break by 5 seconds every run.

5 mins break

100 x 5 meter laps at 2.45 minutes with 45 second break between each 100 meters.

10 mins break

25 x 6 kicking laps with 30 second break.

5 mins break.

25 x 10 breast stroke with 30 second break.

25 x 4 cool down lap at leisure pace.

Time pass in the pool doing nothing – practice diving in the deep end of the pool.

Get out, rest for 5 minutes.

Do 25 push ups, followed by 25 crunches.

Take the leisurely 10 minutes walk back home.

And in between all those breaks, listen and enjoy time with the lifeguard / swim coach / good friend at the pool.

Time at home: 8.05 pm.

The best 2 hours of my days in summer. Bliss.

Life in a Metro – Review

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Saw Life in a Metro last night. Here are my quick thoughts on movie and the different relationships depicted in the movie.

Overall: Pretty decent movie, with good songs picturized on three annoying stooges.

Shilpa Shetty and Kay Kay – Great acting, clumsy story line.

Shilpa Shetty and Shiny Ahuja – Great acting, maturely handled.

Kay Kay and The cute girl – No substance.

The cute girl and Sharman – Idiotic, and senseless. What a loser!!

The cute girl and Konkona – Convenience for the movie for them to be roommates – really, nothing there.

Konkona and Shilpa Shetty – Namesake sisters. Again a convenience for the sake of the movie.

Konkona and Gay couple – Totally unnecessary story line alltogether. On a side note, why must Konkona get to see gay couples in action in all movies? (Page 3 anyone?)

Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali – Cute and Beautiful. It was too short.

Konkona and Irfan Khan – BRILLIANT! The best of the storyline – easily worth the price of the ticket. Irfan Khan simply stands out as the best of the lot in this talented cast. His performance is absolutely delightful.