Fantastic Four

My rating: 3/10.
My advice: If you have a choice, consider it strongly :)

R.E.M @ Hyde Park

We had been to a concert where R.E.M and others played some real good music couple of weeks ago. The concert was in Hyde park, London and was very well organized. Originally scheduled to be held on the 9th of July, it was postponed because of 7/7 bombing incidents in London. We went by car till the suburbs of London and then took the metro. I experienced some psychological fears but those were far lesser in comparision with what I felt this week when I was in london.

Some of the songs that I liked (in order and only the ones I remember):

* Losing My Religion

* Leaving New York

* Everybody hurts

* Man on the moon (I smiled at this one as I kinda believe the conspiracy theory)

In quest of perfection

Don't you like it when things just work???

And if these things provide you an array of features designed to make the most complex things simple and easy, don't you just love them? I am compiling a list of products (software, hardware, etc), companies and other bits that I have encountered in my life that make me just love them (and say Wow! that is just great) for the near perfect level of engineering/service that they offer.

* Apple and apple products
Apple, I think, deserves to be on the top. The experience that it provides both in terms of hardware and software is just exhilarating. My experiences have been with the Powerbook that I currently have, Mac OS X Tiger and many other bundled software.

* Canon Ixus
Canon cameras, mainly the Ixus range are designed to make better photography simple to achieve. The size, the look, the interface and the results are simply the best.

* Google, gmail, google maps, etc
Google sets a high standard in the things that it does. Gmail has improved mail clients beyond expectations and its still in beta!

Any additions more than welcome.

The perfect cup of tea

How do you prepare a perfect cup of tea? Ofcourse, perfection in this case refers to ones taste. Everyday I use the same quantity of water, the same tea bag, the same amount of sugar (two tea spoons to keep my sweet tooth happy) and the same amount of milk. Looking at it with pride, I walk back to my desk. Some days I finish it off with happiness because it really tastes the way I want it to. Some days (like today) I wear a disgruntled look on my face wondering what went wrong. Why am I facing this terrible torture of having to drink a bad cup of tea? What can I do to ensure a perfect cup of tea when I need it? :(

Edinburgh in summer

Last time I visited Edinburgh was in January 2003. It was just after my first set of exams. Scotland was cold, I didn't want to spend much money and only a few months had passed since I came into the UK. Much has changed since then. Edinburgh is much more prettier in summer and so is the rest of scotland for sure. The photos that I took from my mobile phone don't do justice to this beatiful city though.

Is this summer?

I really wonder. Weather has been all time worse since I came to the UK. We have had a maximum of 2 weeks of decent weather with good sunshine and acceptable temperature since May. And its already JULY!!!!! Apart from being wet (which is usual for UK), its coooold.. max temp is well below 20 and min has dipped to around 10 in the last week.

I miss India.

War of the Worlds (2005)

As there are more than one productions of the original "War of the worlds" book by H. G. Wells, its probably appropriate to associate the movie with the year of production :)

< Blooper_Warning> This blog discusses the storyline in the movie and may be considered by the curious ones as a blooper. (even though the original novel was 'pen'ed back in the 19th century)< /Blooper_Warning>.

I found the story to be fundamentally flawed. The storyline seems rather short and to make it last for 2 hrs, Spielberg has introduced a whole lot of supposedly emotional scenes (wonder if someone from Bollywood was involved ;)). Vast number of tripod like creatures (similar to the ones shown above) were burried underneath the ground millions of years ago. One fine day, lightning strikes and these tripods wake up and begin exterminating earthlings. The question is, how did Aliens know the structure, shape and composition of human beings so many years ago? Even to the extent of knowing that our blood can be used as some sort of fertilizer?? The ending to the movie couldn't have been more abrupt; our microscopic friends come to our rescue and that is the aliens collapse.

I liked the first 45-60 mins and found it to be quite chilling. But then the focus was turned on to Mr. Cruise, his two misbehaving kids and the budding emotional bondage between them. That is when I couldn't take it. And those kids, Oh-My-God!...couple of times during the movie, I felt like slapping them. The younger one screams for everything and the the elder one is very annoying.

The tripod in the image (isn't from the movie), aliens, etc can be seen in the movie but images aren't shown in any of the promos (trying to keep the 100+ yr old suspense I suppose)

A generous 2/5 for the movie. My 2 pence worth opinion is that Spielberg could have focussed on trying to explain the strategy of the aliens and the aliens themselves which was comparitively clearer in the "US is the savior of the world" movie (The Independence day).

The Matrix: A different perspective

I happened to read the following from Don Veto's blogs

I groked matrix reloaded and now got it.

Forget all the philosophy in the movie and the double meanings of names. Think of the matrix and machines in terms of software and rule based algorithms.
I believe, like Morpheus is so fond of saying, that the matrix built by the machines is just a complex adventure game, or Multi User Dimension or MUD.

The first Matrix as told by agent Smith was a perfect world where everyone was happy, everything was right, everything was simple, basically a pointless MUD game, therefore a game you can finish very quickly and gets boring very quickly also. Imagine if that boring easy game was your life and you quickly mastered it? You would lose purpose, hope, and happiness. Everything would be boring and pointless; you probably would get depressed and go insane. That is exactly what happened in the 1st matrix version made by the machines.

The new matrix, or could I say matrices, where more developed and morsuitablele for struggling humans, you had the illusion of difficulty, the struggle to succeed, the struggle to merely survive, a regular hard life which is what everyone in the matrix is experiencing. Now the story of the first matrix was the story of hackers who began to realize that they where living in a MUD/ Matrix, got out of the matrix and mastered the game since they where able to analyze and comprehend the matrix at a very low level.
Neo, the one showed potential to understand the matrix at an extremely low level even bypassing the rules of the game / software / matrix and being able to for instance stop bullets, flying likSupermanan and destroying agents. The MUD/Matrix was not designed for that.

In the Matrix I we are shown the Matrix as the real world and then it is revealed that it is not a real world but a very good simulation. Morpheus and Trinity are still playing by the rules of the game but with great skill, Neo is told that he is the One, meaning the best game player around. Neo starts understanding or believing his skills and doing what was previously thought to be impossible.
In Matrix Reloaded, we see the different game stages, with characters of the Matrix telling them what to do next. As in any MUD, the simulation is good but not good enough to cover all events so you have to guide the players through clues.

Try to think like software and you will understand how the matrix behaves, causality is simply and if - then statement, or a case statement.

Neo is the only One who showed independent thought, blinded by his love for Trinity, to take the door sending him back to the matrix. With that result Neo became the controller of the matrix and managed to stop the probes while he was in the real world. Neo somehow mastered the game and ended up controlling it.

My current conclusion is that many different perspectives of the actual storyline are possible. I would have had to watch the series at least twice or thrice (which I haven't) to come up with my own perspective and I am not completely convinced by the one above. So for me, Matrix is still all about dodging bullets, superfast fighting, walking on walls, flying through space and all the similar lot.

Weekend in Taormina

Took a short break last weekend and went with friends to Taormina in Sicily, Italy. In the list of best places that I have been until now, this one figures on the top! We landed at Palermo on friday, rented a car and drove to Cefalu and then to Giardini-Naxos. Naxos is around 5 Kms from Taormina, one of the best places in Sicily. It is located on top of a hill overlooking the sea, with a cape at the foot of the hill. Lovely beaches, clear water, a very lively town, excellent weather and great food. I am definitely looking forward to going back again.

I couldn't make up my mind about which camera to buy in order to use one during this trip and I am now waiting for photographs from my friends' camera. The photograph above (courtesy University of Messina) is that of Isola Bella, which is located at the foot of Taormina and is a very beautiful nature reserve.

The Smiths are in town

I watched this movie on tuesday and wasn't impressed. Jolie is ofcourse superb and Pitt's acting is good. But the storyline is worth half an hour and has been stretched out into 2 hrs although you don't quite feel it that much. I came out of the theatre thinking "So what was the story?". Too much (unnecessary and unrealistic) violence, where bullets fly everywhere and bad guys get hit first time around but when Jolie and Pitt and firing at each other, even a million shells aren't enough. Oh well, its just a movie! I give it a generous 2.5/5. (2 because of Jolie and .5 because of Pitt's acting ;-))

Balanced Scorecard

A very interesting read from a management point of view.

Which one?

Sony Cybershot DSC L1...

or Canon IXUS50 ?

Back home, we have a Canon IXUS II. No doubt, Canon cameras are great. I saw Praveen's Sony L1 and liked it as well. Can't make up my mind...Sony is cheaper, 4 mpx while Ixus50 is 5 mpx. But I am not very keen on higher mpx as they increase image size. The things that impress me in Ixus50 are the large LCD, DIGIC II processor and various shooting modes.

Carnival De Cuba

We were in London last sunday to take part in the annual Carnival De Cuba on South Bank.

People were dancing salsa, tango, merengue, etc. on the streets...

This kid couldn't resist either...

And thats when my mobile's battery went flat. Well, this happens when I need to use it the most. I really need to charge my mobile phone often :-D. I am quite impressed with the quality of pictures my mobile phone produces although newer ones can do even better I suppose.


We really enjoyed the carnival. Food was cheap and good, different kinds of drinks - strawberry and rum mixed together, mint with some kind of spirit, etc. I would like to go there again.. :-)

Mac will marry Intel as well

Its official. Steve Jobs has spoken about transitions to Intel architecture beginning this year and completing by 2007. Xcode 2.1 will be released today which supports coding on both platforms. The dream is to have one binary which can work on both architectures!!! Interesting... Is this the beginning of 'The End' (for Micro$oft)?

Personally, I don't have any strong opinions for or against this. In fact I feel that this is a very good move by Apple. Apparently, all major releases of Mac OS X for last 5 years were compiled on an x86!

Strawberry fair

With some initial reluctance I finally decided to join my friend and we went to the annual Strawberry fair held in Midsummer Common. This is my second visit to this kinda fair. Last year when I went there, I didn't quite like it mainly because of cleanliness and hygiene issues. Although the name might suggest something related to fruits, its actually nothing to do with strawberries (I think). I browsed through the organizer's website to figure it out but with no luck. So, this overcrowded fair was lined with stalls serving food from various cuisines, clothes and accessories. We found a stall selling fruits and also tender coconuts. If I remember correctly, the last time I had one was when I was in India in december. We tried out these at the cost of £2 each. Although low on quantity, the water was quite sweet. We then got it split into two halves. He made a spoon out of the outer shell in order to have the inner skin ...just like back home :-). I did enjoy the fair this time (more than last year) although it was overcrowded and very dirty.

Star Wars III

Watched this movie on sunday. There have been very rare occassions in my life where I have been totally engrossed in a movie and by its characters. This movie figures in that list. I must admit that I was (and still am) a 'star wars illiterate'. Hope I am not alone :-).

I felt that the storyline was averagish. Infact it kinda reminded me of some bollywood movies where twins get separated at melas (a.k.a carnivals) and they grow up to take revenge against the bad guy... :-).I couldn't hate the characters of Anakin and Chancellor Palpatine more. Visual Effects, I feel, have been better than in any other movie so far.

The walk back home including a refreshal of the movie, the chanting of the music and drawing out the imaginary LightSaber (a.k.a tubelight) accompanied by the low frequency ''ghhhhhheeeeennn'. Coincidentally, this noise is similar to the ones that some fluroscent lights make. Atleast the one in my kitchen does. Wonder where George Lucas gets his ideas from? ;-)

In Detroit

First time in Detroit, the so called the motown or the motor capital of the world (US?). I am here for a week long workshop in Ann Arbor. The flight was not bad. I flew with KLM from London to Amsterdam and then with NWA. Movie-on-demand for economy class, good food but not-so-friendly cabin crew. After arrival, we headed to a National car rental 'farm' and picked up a chevy malibu.

Damn this jet lag. Its 5am and I can't sleep and am hungry. Its all very quiet and am doing some casual browsing when I notice the regular 'click clunk' noises from my powerbook's hard drive. Afraid of loosing my hard drive, I did some googling and discovered to my comfort that this is quite normal on powerbooks (and also other laptops). The culprit for these annoying noises is the Advanced Power Management (APM). To save power, the hard disk heads are parked very often. Infact even between keystrokes and also while the system is idling. The solution for this is an APM Tuner. For G4s, Mr. Eiji Maekawa’s APM Tuner has been much appreciated. After installing it and setting a value to its max, the hard disk became much quieter. However, doing so is not recommened when running on battery power and it needs to be set everytime the system reboots.

More info on APM
http://www.macopinion.com/columns/roadwarrior/02/07/30/
http://www.ehmac.ca/showthread.php?p=208929

Mr. Eiji Maekawa's APM Tuner is no longer available at the original website. The one below is for MAC OS X. Find it here:
http://freespace.kb-hosting.de/smat...ner_X_1_0a2.zip. give the Readme files in the package a good read before starting anything.

Had a friend for dinner

I would be careful with the above words if I were in Germany :-)...A late start to my weekend by getting up at mid-day and then meeting a friend for a cup of tea....no punting unfortunately...this damn weather is great when I have to stay indoors. Ended the eventless day with a dinner with friends, one of them leaving to spain for good. Hope to see some sunlight tomorrow atleast....

Just another weekend???

Well, the temperature here shot up so suddenly! It was freezing last weekend and now its 17deg C??? Had been really waiting for it...I guess the enthusiasm when spring 'springs in' increases with each passing year.

So, the weekend is here and I don't know what I am going to do. Just came back home from the usual friday evening visit to the pub and there is so much household work waiting.. I guess thats what I am going to do over the weekend :-( ....Punting would be nice...For those who do not know what punting is all about, a punt is a long, a very long thin stick with which you push the floor of the river (yes, the river has to be shallow) and move ahead. Steering is done by submerging the tip of the punt at a necessary angle, pointing at the direction that you want to turn. The actual fun is when you are learning to punt. There are many such learners with whom you lock your boat and sometimes one of them falls off. Moreover the river is quite narrow...Its usually great fun...

I am really hungry now...so will start cooking....

My first blog

I can't say that I love to read blogs but interesting blogs are so much fun. Now I definitely want to try blogging to experience this 'new found craze'. So here is my first blog. It comes with a promise to myself that I am going to try to update it as 'regularly' as possible (an abstract promise ;-) ). Now I shall go away and invite people to read my first blog....