Computer Screen Cleaner!!

Is your computer screen dirty?? Clean it from the inside - Check this out :)

Annihilation!!

No other word even comes close to describing what Adam Gilchrist did today to the Mumbai Indians!!!!
Today morning, i changed the 'Picture of the day' to a logo of Deccan Chargers with the caption that they'll win their first match in the IPL today. Thanks to Gilly for making it come true!!
Wow!!!!
The biggest tribute probably is that Robin Uthappa walked Gilly back to the dressing room, all the while picking him for tips on batting!!
Right from day one, we've been BIG supporters of the team from Hyderabad and it's an accepted fact that it is probably the strongest team in the tournament. It's a sad thing that we won't be seeing Symonds in action any more in this tournament as he's leaving with the Aussie team to Windies, but with the belligerent form Gilly has struck today, i'm lookin' forward to the next match!!!
Go Chargers Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Learnings from 'The Godfather'

Whatever the good and bad in the movie, 'The Godfather' has one obvious teaching. It struck me when i read the book many years ago and has been a part of my sub-conscious for many many years now!
It is 'Putting Family First'
In the scene where Michael goes to Vegas to speak to Moe Greene, Fredo Corleone takes sides with Moe and after Moe storms out of the room in anger, Michael calmly warns his elder brother - "Never take sides against the family with anyone ever again"
What learning!!! That's probably why The Mafia is called 'The Family'.
Now, i've seen a lot of parents chide their kids in front of strangers. "See, my son is such an utter disgrace, he's this and he's that".
I guess parents need to learn from Don Vito Corleone in this one regard. Whatever needs to be sorted out between a family needs to be done so between 4 walls. Irrespective of how serious the matter, when an outsider butts in, think Corleone!
That'll make sure that the kids grow up right and with the right values too!

Standing up for what is right!

This one's a post about a cause very close to my heart - CRY.
Right from the time i've been in college, i've been inspired by this cause. In college, we were asked to participate in a concert raising funds for Child Relief and You! (Now called Child Rights and You) We did and got hooked!
CRY (www.cry.org) is a non-profit organization started in the year 1978 by 7 friends who were passionate about making a difference. Led by 25 yr old Ex-Flight Steward Rippan Kapur, CRY started with a capital of 50/- and one old Dining Table. Today, it's a Multi-Million Dollar NGO which supports Hundreds of other smaller organizations.
Rather than starting an orphanage or a grass-roots level venture, CRY chose to form a link between people willing to donate and the thousands of existing service organizations which did not have the means to raise funds.
The thing i love about CRY is that rather than just showcasing teary stories of under-privileged children to get in sympathy donations, CRY went a step ahead and created an image which connected people from all walks of life. With Tie-Ups ranging from Giant companies like Amway (which offer co-branded greeting cards with CRY) to Credit Cards (Co-branded with Citibank) to Merchandise available on the website (including Games, Cards, Clothing, Gifts, Accessories, Home furnishings, Knick-knacks and Stationery), CRY has created a youthful image which is very appealing.
But through it all, CRY hasn't deviated from the baseline - To create a brighter future for today's under-privileged children.
Sadly, Rippan Kapur is no longer among us today. He passed away at a very young age of 40 in 1994. However, there are many people who've got ignited by his dream.
One couple like that are Vijay and Madhuri Vemulapalli, who were working as Software professionals in the USA. They reached out to CRY in India and offered to take the company into the USA. Today, CRY America is a Huge entity encompassing many many activities and supporting their Indian partner too!
In each and every person, there is an innate desire to serve the society. However, most of us remain as spectators because of not finding the right vehicle.
CRY provides that vehicle to us.
And their new motto says it all - 'Standing up for what's right'
Get involved guys! Either as Donors or as Volunteers or atleast as Well-wishers.
Cheers to CRY!

Scribd - A Fantastic resource!

This is not a sponsored post!
I've benefited so much from this website that i thought i should share it with the world!
www.scribd.com is the ultimate resource for anyone sharing or viewing documents on the net.
The first page proudly announces that the site has 17 million people view the site in a month!
Scribd allows us to upload and share any kind of document - be it word, pdf, powerpoint or any of the other popular formats.
There are literally thousands of presentations, documents and other very useful resources available online thru the site.
So, the next time you are looking to make a presentation or an E-Book, you know where to look.
Just beware the copyrighted material.
Cheers to Scribd. Enjoy!!

6 Sixes - A Video History!

The cricket fever continues!!!
After watching yesterday's match where Boucher Plummelled Nehra for consecutive Boundaries, i was taken over by a desire to watch Yuvraj's 6 Sixes in the ICC Twenty20 World cup. Then, i saw Gibbs 6 Sixes in the same tournament and for history's sake, searched for a video of Sir Gary Sobers hitting 6 Sixes!
Here are all the 3 Put together at one place!
Again, i couldn't find copyright info for any of these videos. If anyone knows of an active infringement clause here, do let me know and i'll change them.
Meanwhile, Have a blast!! Must Watch!

The Godfather - My Experience with the Movie!

I Should have seen this movie long long ago!!!!!
Whenever we decided on watching an English Movie online or getting an English DVD, i always chose the ones with a lot of Buzz. And the reason i kept skipping this title was because i saw Sarkar and Nayakudu (Dayavan in Hindi) and thought it's the same!
(Though not relevant here, Nayakudu was much better than Sarkar)
The Godfather by Mario Puzo was one of the first novels i remember reading and Mafia is one of the first Big Video Games i played.
In an earlier post i've written about books being made into movies (Saving Private Ryan) i opined that all of the movies made from books are letdowns when compared to the original book.
This movie turned that around!
What a movie!!!!
And this was the first movie i've seen of the awesome Marlon Brando and also of the equally fantastic Al Pacino. No wonder they are Superstars!
If you think Amitabh Bachchan's performance in Sarkar was intense, watch Brando!!! Wow!
Now that i think about it, innumerable Indian movies have been 'inspired' by this movie in whole or in part - and no regrets!
Coming to the actual movie, 'The Godfather' is the first part of the story of the Corleone Family starting with Don Vito Corleone (Brando) and ends with Son Michael Corleone taking up the reins once dad's days are over.
The best part of the story is the unwilling conversion of Michael (Al Pacino) from being a Soldier into a Don. Truly a masterpiece!!!
I won't spoil the fun by writing about the story here. That's why i've titled this post as an Experience rather than as a Review.
The actual reason i watched this movie in a hurry (on Veoh) was because of IMDB.
Yesterday, while writing about Apocalypto, i was searching IMDB for the number of awards for the film when i stumbled upon the all-time favourite rated movies. Which one was the best??
Yup. Godfather scored 9.2!
Watching this 175 min movie is such an intense experience! The book literally came alive on screen. It's actually a surprise that the movie won only 3 Oscars (Best actor-Brando, Best Picture and Best Story / Screenplay - Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola) inspite of 11 nominations.
After watching the original, i'm raring to watch the sequels. Hope they won't let me down!
Meanwhile, go watch this one!!

Awareness Test - Awesome Video!

I absolutely loved this video!!!
Again, no info about copyright, but i guess the producers won't mind :)



Do leave your comments!

Apocalypto - My review.

Actually, throughout this movie, i was thinking about the Doordarshan Sunday 1 pm movie days. Remember the days when we used to sit in front of the TV and wait for a movie in our language to begin (even if one was telecast last week)!!
And when we see the movie begin in some other language, we used to sit on for some time (till we fell asleep) not understanding one word, but still enjoying the movie!!
Now, Apocalypto took me back to those days!! This probably is the only movie to date that i did not understand one word of, but still watched from the first to last frame!!
PS - The movie is entirely in Mayan!!! Depend on the sub-titles!

Since the days of 'The Patriot', i've been a big fan of Mel Gibson. This movie released in Vizag, but played for about a week and i missed it!
Today i saw this on DVD.
Apocalypto falls bang into the genre of films like 10000 BC and 300. It probably started the genre and did a pretty good job too.
Apocalypto is set in the 15th century in a South American Jungle. It is the story of Jaguar Paw's (Rudy Youngblood) family and friends, whose village is destroyed by slave traders from the Mayan Capital. Jaguar Paw manages to hide his 9 months pregnant wife and kid in a well before he's captured. After an arduous trek thru Dense forests, Raging rapids and Swamplands, the captured are taken to the city, where they are meant to be sacrificed for the crazy Mayan tradition (apparently) of beheading men and burning their hearts so that the Gods are appeased and the Mayans regain their lost glory.
You must watch that part of the movie!! Real spine-chilling!
By a quirk of fate and a timely Solar Eclipse, Jaguar and a few other prisoners are saved for the moment, but they have worse fate awaiting them!
I won't spoil the pleasure of your watching the movie, but will tell you this much - While the first half of the story revolves around character specifications and our getting into their way of life, it is the second half that's the awesome part - where the caption of the movie - 'When the end comes, not everyone is ready to go' comes true!
The director holds you hard and doesn't let go till the last scene of the film!
This is really one helluva movie, though a bit weird in the sense that we, in India aren't exposed to that mysterious civilization at all! Consider the names of the characters for an illustration - Jaguar Paw, Seven, Flint Sky, Blunted, Turtles Run, Curl Nose, Smoke Frog, Cocoa Leaf and Sky Flower!! Ouch :)
Apocalypto has been nominated for 3 Oscars and for tons of other awards.
Awards aside, the fact that a foreign language film has been a super-hit all over the world holds testimonial to the brilliance of the movie.
You must watch this one - irrespective of where you are from!
More info here - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472043/

The most unbelievable catch!!

We're completely in the grip of the IPL Cricket fever!!!
Hence, the last post was about cricket, my daily image is about Cricket and most of my searches on the net are related to Cricket!!
Meanwhile, one of my friends put up this fantastic video on his Orkut profile.
This undoubtedly is one of the best catches of all time!
You must look at Hayden's face after Collingwood took this stunner!
Note - I can't find copyright info for this video. If i'm infringing, do let me know.
Meanwhile, Enjoy!

Karmayuddh ka shuruwaad!

Finally, all the hype has translated into action.
And what action!!!!!
I still remember the first T20 world cup in South Africa, where Chris Gayle opened batting and went on to score the first ever 100 in Twenty20 History!
Today, Brendon McCullum opened for Kolkata Knight Riders and not only went on to score a 100, but to score the highest ever individual score in T20 history - and the first 150!!!
Now, that in itself was such a treat - 11 Fours and 12 Sixes - Wow!!!
As far as the match was concerned, it wasn't really a match with the Bangalore Royal Challengers getting skittled out for a mere 82!
Now, this post isn't about the match in itself, but rather about the whole experience!
Each time McCullum hit the ball beyond the boundary, the camera immediately panned to show Shahrukh Khan dancing in the aisles - Even the cheerleaders did not get as much camera time!!
Accompanying him were his wife, kids, Juhi Chawla, Arjun Rampal and obviously Karan Johar. Nice footage to show on TV, right?
On the other side were Dr Mallya himself and his entourage of biggies!
Still, celebrity power won the day with the Kolkata Knight Riders winning with a handsome margin!
I'm still not very clear about IPL and it's workings, but i know one thing - It's gonna be one helluva summer!!!!
I'm sure that right now, DLF would be happy, Nokia would be happy, Hero Honda would be happy, Vodafone would be happy, SET Max would be very happy BCCI would be extremely happy!
And CEO Lalit Modi will certainly sleep a happy man tonight :)
Here's more info from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Premier_League
Looking forward to tomorrow!! 2 encounters, double the fun!

Hakuna Matata - What a Wonderful Phrase!!

Actually, The credit to this post should go to our dear Mr G V Lu!
When i changed my Orkut Profile to 'Aditya - Hakuna Matata' , he sent me a scrap asking what's this. I knew that the meaning of the phrase was 'No Worries', But Mr Lu isn't the kinda person one can just bluff with half-knowledge.
So, i looked it up on Wikipedia - You can do so too!
Actually, Hakuna Matata is a Swahili phrase meaning 'Take no worries' or 'No problem'.
This phrase became popular for the first time in the Awesome Disney Movie - 'The Lion King'.
And when i looked up Wikipedia for the phrase, i found a lot of other interesting things - The song was nominated for Best Song in the Academy Awards and also the Music Composer Elton John and Lyricist Tim Rice picked up Oscars for Best Music and Lyrics respectively!
Also, the song features among the 100 greatest movie songs of all time compiled by the American Film Institute!
Actually, i wanted to put up a link here to some site where you could hear the song in streaming audio. Then, i did one step better - First look at the lyrics and then play the video below!!
Even better if you could sing along - A real soother of a song - No doubt, you'll walk away feeling happier and all smiley :)

Lyrics -

Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase
Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze
It means no worries for the rest of your days
It's our problem-free philosophy
Hakuna Matata!
Hakuna Matata?

There's quite a few enjoyable conversations between Timon, Pumba and Simba in the Song too - Watch!!

Super-Fly!!

Here's One Helluva Fly! The poor frog had absolutely No Idea!

Saving Private Ryan - The Movie - My Review

As promised earlier while writing the Review for the Book, i watched the movie last night and as far as i'm concerned, it's been a letdown!!
Not that there's anything specifically wrong with the movie, it's just that after reading the book, i had a different set of expectations, which naturally, the movie could not meet.
Actually, i can't fault Spielberg, Hanks or any of the team. Compressing a 300 Page book into a 2 Hour movie is no Joke! To be honest, the movie was brilliantly made. Without losing any of the Grim reality , Spielberg magnificently showed the humane side of of War. Real Good!
But as i relished the book and remembered each bit of the story (i'd just finished the book 2 days ago) i was getting ahead of myself and when a particular scene was missed or replaced by a more cinematic one, the book-lover in me sort of revolted!
Especially the scene (in the book) where, after being given the assignment to find Private Ryan, Captain Miller and his team set off in a Jeep to being the search. It is one of more colourful parts of the story with Sarge driving like crazy thru pot-holed and mine-laid roads for quite a distance, till finally the Jeep is blasted off with the passengers escaping unhurt. This crazy bit was totally left out in the movie. This is just one example. But again, it isn't probably possible to show everything in the short duration.
The ending has also been slightly modified with Corporal Upham's character being shown as a coward. It's way different in the book. But i guess someone had to become a fall-guy so the audiences relate to the grim ending of the flashback in the story.
However, Credit is due to Tom Hanks, one of my Fav stars, who is a natural fit into Captain Miller's character. His entire team's cast has been very well chosen with many names that we would today recognize easily - Tom Sizemore, Vin Diesel, Edward Burns and Adam Goldberg.
Matt Damon does a Fab job as Private James Ryan.
The movie has been nominated for 11 and has won 5 Academy awards including Best Director for Steven Spielberg.
Here's what i have to say - If you've not seen the movie, Watch it now! If you've not read the Book, Read it immediately, but don't do both in immediate succession!!!!!

Hilarious - US Return Checklist!!

Here are 22 of the most recognizable quirks of an Indian who's just returned from the US - See if you can identify someone from your circle with some of these!
22. Uses 'Nope' for No and 'Yep' for Yes.
21. Tries to use Credit Card in roadside hotels (will atleast attempt!)

20. Drinks and carries Mineral Water and always speaks of health consciousness
19. Sprays so much Deo that he doesn't need to take a bath!
18. Sneezes and loudly says 'Excuse Me'
17. Says 'Hey' instead of Hi
Says 'Yoghurt' instead of Curd
Says 'Cab' instead of Taxi
Says 'Candy' instead of Chocloate
Says 'Cookie' instead of Biscuit
Says 'Free Way' instead of Highway
Says 'Got to Go' instead of Have to go
Uses 'Oh' instead of Zero (For 704 - Seven oh four - instead of Seven Zero Four)
16. Cribs about Air pollution each time he steps out
15. Says all distances in Miles instead of Kilometres and counts in Millions instead of Lakhs
14. Tries to figure all prices in Dollars
13. Sees the fat % on the cover of a Milk Packet
12. Instead of Zed (Z), will say 'Zee' and will keep repeating it as Zee even if people don't understand!
11. Will complain about Jet Lag even after 2 months!
10. Writes in MM/DD/YY and calls the traditional DD/MM/YY as 'Oh! British Style'
9. Will make a lot of fun about Indian Standard Time and Indian Road conditions
8. Avoids eating Chilli!
7. Tries to drink Diet Coke instead of the normal one
6. Complains about everything India as if he's experiencing it for the first time
5. Produces Schedule as 'Skejule' and Module as 'Mojule'
4. Looks suspiciously towards Dhaba Food!
3. Will not remove the Airline stickers from luggage even 4 months after arrival
2. Takes a trolley on trips in India and tries to roll the bag on our Roads and Platforms!

And The Ultimate Check -
1. Will begin conversations with 'In the USA'!!!!
No harm meant guys :) You make the country more lively!! Cheers
- Thanks to Raji for sharing.

Who would want one of those - 3

Actually, this is not 'one' of those. It is Who would want 'all' of those!
Actual Credit for this article would go to Readers Digest which came in this morning. It carried a Joke about this and when i went online, i couldn't resist putting this article up!!
Check out www.babybushtoys.com
Even considering the namesake, the items sold are ridiculous!!!
Don't believe me? Check this out for an example -

A Rubik's Cube with red on all sides!!! Why? So that the child has the satisfaction of completing the cube! The price , Just $24.99 - A small price for such a fantastic invention right?
Next Up is a Portable playground priced at $48.99 only! The name seems intriguing right? Till you see the sheer ingenuity of the product - It's an empty cardboard box!! Let your child's imagination run wild and use this box in any way they want! Wow!!
Not enough, check this one out then, An Abacus with just One counting bead!! Why? So that your child can never go wrong :) Priced at just 54.99$
However, this one takes the cake - Good Night moon - A book which is destined to make your child's self-esteem soar - How? The book is completely blank - The child will just pretend to read it and feel more and more confident! This one beats Einstein's inventions right? And at just $37.99, it's a steal!!!
But whatever said and done, the site gives us a great laugh!! Thanks guys :)

Of Splogs and Google Bombs!!

As said earlier, the Internet has created a whole new set of terminologies and a huge economy by itself!
With every Good, there come along a big bunch of Bads and bigger bunch of Uglies!
Same with the internet too!!
The Good here is the independence for people to express themselves in a world that's entirely virtual and created entirely by people like them!
After Google came on, the world became a better place (even if some people disagree)
Though not actually 'The Bad', online advertising comes somewhere close to that! But i guess without advertising, the Internet would have been a much smaller and inaccessible place! Still, the offshoots of advertising went bad, with ads dominating the marketplace and everything being changed to accommodate more and more ads! It spurred Millions of bloggers and webmasters to actually redirect their sites towards revenue rather than towards readers.
The Ugly is probably the biggest ruiner in today's Internet experience - Spam! Not just the Email variety, but of the Splog variety! Surprised?? The word 'Splog' was coined in 2003, referring to Spam Blogs. These are blogs created for the sole purpose of redirecting people to sites that earn thru traffic!
The simpleton that the average Internet user is (read ME), he unwillingly and unknowingly becomes part of that ugly world - The world of Piracy, the world of Free Toolbars, the world of Free 3D wallpapers and of god knows what else! Nah! We're actually going away from the topic here!
The topic still is Advertising. As Google is the Key thing in Revenue earning, A Top slot on Google search rankings ensures that you're site will get Top traffic and Quality traffic too! So, here come Google Bombs! These are artificial key words, which bring up totally different searc results! This term was coined in 2001, with a search string 'more evil than satan himself' throwing up Microsoft as the top search result!!
Try out Google for 'French Military Victories' and the top result will be an 'Albino Black Sheep' which will say 'No results found', try 'French Military Defeats'!! Is that a Gag or what!
Here's more info from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bomb
Got any other interesting phrases?

Saving Private Ryan (The Book) - My Review

Since the day Warner brothers started making movies, it was obvious that movie makers would turn to books to fuel their appetite for stories!
In the beginning, i guess the writer had more say in the making of the film. As time went on, Screenplay took over and finally the day has arrived when books are being written based on screenplays!!
Rarely does a writer command as much respect as the film maker, unless the name's J K Rowling!
Now, Since Speilberg made Saving Private Ryan, i've been wanting to read the book. Till date, i've not seen the movie as it doesn't make sense to see first and read later. I did that mistake with Jurassic Park and did not enjoy the reading part at all!!
Finally, i caught hold of a tattered paperback in our local library and finished it yesterday. Seriously, WOW! Normal war time stories (of which i've read a horde) take you through the first hand experience of Wars and it's Battles! Now, this one's different. Obviously more of us have seen the movie than read the book, so you know the story - A Rag-Tag unit during the second world war is assigned a unique mission - to get into the heartland of battle and to bring out Private Ryan due to a PR decision at the Pentagon. The story weaves a beautiful emotion!
Seriously, the only reason i've been wanting to read this book is that Speilberg bought out rights and made this movie. And Tom Hanks starred in it!
And is it worth it! Undoubtedly one of the best Human stories i've ever read (along with 'How Starbucks saved my life' and 'Black like me')
Characters like Captain John Miller Corporal Wade and Private Jackson linger on long after you finished the last page.
You know what, even if you've seen the movie, you must read this one! And if you haven't seen the movie, you MUST read this one!
This 317 page book is published by Penguin and the font is very comfortable to read (unlike the regular war time books which have a sadistically small font).
I've got the DVD and will watch the film now. Keep you posted :)

Thousand Hand Bodhisattva

I've seen this video for the first time maybe 2 yrs ago! Since then, it's been on my Orkut list of favourites. Just watched it again now and thought i should post it here so we can all enjoy it together!

Thousand-hand Bodhisattva
The performance of Thousand-hand Bodhisattva dance performed by 21 hearing impaired girls and boys at the 2005 CCTV Spring Festival Gala caused a nationwide sensation.

The entire audience was thrilled by the synchronized movements dancers, who performed with exquisite grace and precision, even though they couldn't hear the music.
And this was choreographed by an Army General!! Wow!

You must watch it right now!! And watch it till the end! What other testimonial can we give their phenomenal talent?? More info from Wikipedia here
Just click on play, sit back and enjoy!!