Oodles of Technology

Please visit my new blog: Oodles of Technology for more tech. related content.

Eerie Photoshopping

The New Republic's front page is quite eerie. This image looks like an effete man - which Obama definitely isn't; and neither is Hilary a benign woman.

Pillow Talk

In all our silliness and spontaneity, we went to a pillow fight organized by the "Banditos Misteriosos" mobsters yesterday armed with a (soft) pillow and a D-SLR. It was a whole lot of fun to attend something so ridiculous and hilarious. There was a huge turnout, and everyone had a blast.

It comforts me to know that because it was an "International Pillow flight day", and because silliness has no boundaries, "at the very same moment" (in history?!), people in Beijing, Budapest, Copenhagen, Sydney pummeling each other as well.

Maximum City and other stories...

Created with flickrSLiDR

We're back from India, where we had a family reunion of sorts, and then went to Rajasthan for a whirlwind trip. As my sister mentioned, these are not just photographs; these are memories that I will cherish for a life-time.

My babies

Over the last spring and fall semesters, I have been taking wheel pottery classes at Clayworks; a non-profit ceramic art school and studio. My proud achievements include making symmetrical cylinders (whew, finally!), and some sugar bowls. These are some of my creations.

Om Shanti Om

If you're up for some good "time-pass", have been a Hindi film buff since you were a kid, this one's for you. "Karz" was one of my favorite movies growing up. The ruthless Simi, the cutesy Rishi Kapoor and the hapless Raj Kiran - all made for a good masala flick.

The songs are good, and the song "Daastan-E-Om Shanti Om" sounds and feels like the "Phantom of the Opera's" title song. Though, I have to admit that this one is a "good, inspired copy". Shahrukh looks too malnourished to have a good body (or maybe that's the new look).

After the success of Don II, does this movie signal a new era of remakes?

babajob.com

There is a very interesting article about a social networking website called babajob ,
defined as "village linkedin". What's inspiring is that out of so many social "notworking" sites that have been created, this one stands out for its creativity as well as the potential to make a real difference.

There was another video recently about India's migrant workers and their rush to Mumbai, the city paved with gold and lined with plum jobs. This boy who was interviewed had run away from home, and all he had was the pair of clothes that he was wearing, an address of a friend and a SIM card.

It amazes me how technology is altering the level of access that the working class has these days; no doubt, it's a long road ahead, but at least this is a good start.

Happy Diwali!

Here's wishing you all a wonderful Diwali and a great year ahead!
Pic courtesy: http://www.gheehappy.com

What I've been up to

Now that I’ve started working from home, I’ve started reading voraciously and I love the anticipation of deciding which book to read next, thinking about the books, and then occasionally, blogging about them. So my next few blogs are some book reviews.

Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain

I love "No Reservations", a show hosted by Anthony Bourdain, a no-nonsense, bad-ass guy who also happens to be a chef. He's brutal about the restaurant business, absolutely detests vegetarians and spares no bones (no pun intended) with anyone in the food industry. I see him as the "ultimate cool guy"; raw, unapologetic, gritty, creative and adventurous.

His memoir does not disappoint; I didn't really get all the French and Italian words related to cuisine, but learnt some new ones. A fast-paced, very well-written read.

Rant – Chuck Palahniuk

Chuck Palahniuk is at it again with another of his bizarre novels. His protagonist is as usual, a bored-out-of-his-mind suburban kid who likes to contract and spread rabies. He then joins a club where people bang into each-other’s cars to achieve immortality. It gets weirder, but I’ll spare you the details. Two words should suffice here – “skip it”; watch/read the “Fight Club” instead.

The Language Instinct - Steven Pinker

My favorite of the lot. It talks about how language is “hard-wired” into all humans, and gives explanations about how language evolves over time; why kids exposed to more than one language pick up languages much better than adults; and (surprisingly) how deaf-dumb people pick up the sign language. Of course, the best part about it was that it was scientific enough for me to appreciate it; while at the same time explained in lay terms.

In the Miso soup - Ryu Murakami

Fast moving thriller. I liked the intimate look at Japan’s sex industry, and the seemingly orthogonal view of Japanese culture and the woman’s place in the work force in their society. It seems to be a very male dominated society; teens are extremely fashion-conscious, and lonely, while adult women seem to be very regressive and following in the men’s heels. I might be making some really untrue statements here, but that’s what I thought after reading the book, and from scenes from Babel.

The New Life - Orhan Pamuk

“The New Life” – a little too esoteric and out there for my taste, I picked up this book because I thought I’d try something different. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t quite enjoy the book. I love the way time-space seems to collide and intersect in movies, but I just didn’t feel it in the book.

Yet another cliché of a movie

1. The title is the one I hated the most - it's regressive, the word "daag" seems straight out of a medieval novel, and I feel really angry about it, and that's why it doesn't figure anywhere on this blog post.

2. Jaya is definitely trying to usurp Nirupa Roy from the not-so-desirable position of whining mom, helpless wife and sacrificing mother. She seems almost demented in some scenes.

3. Give us a minute dose of reality, and we the viewers will willingly take it. But oops...we're talking about Yash Raj movies here. The mansion of a house (which of course is justified as a white elephant); the late night sewing sessions of the aforementioned self-sacrificing mom in darkness, the Catlic sidekicks with bad Hindi/English, cliché after cliché of ghise-peete dialogues - here's one - "I'm marrying you because you're the only (whore) who knows her Hanuman chalisa"!! What! - where did this come from? As far as Suketu's novel goes, most of the sex workers come from very poor families, and are very god-fearing.

4. One last silver lining - I'm sure the classical purists hate her for selling out to mass media, but I quite liked the Shubha Mudgal's remixed version of the title track.

At the Guggenheim

Last Saturday was a virtual overload of senses. We went to the Guggenheim in the afternoon, and then the evening show of the Phantom of the Opera. I was really impressed and overwhelmed with the collection and the exhibitions, and of course the interior space at the Guggenheim. I literally got goose bumps when I saw the famous paintings that I had seen only as postcards before in real life, so close that I could smell the paint on them (well, ok I exaggerate). Early Picassos, Kandinskys and Légers made the afternoon really memorable.

The Phantom of the Opera

We were in NY for the labor day weekend, where we had a mini reunion of sorts with some high school friends and finally managed to catch the longest playing Broadway show ever after so much anticipation. And boy, it did not disappoint. The sets, the music, the acting and the costumes made it a real treat! I loved the Phantom's lair and the smooth ride in the boat. Candles and wrought iron cages and smoke appeared from nowhere and disappeared just as seamlessly. If Lalunadiosa is to be believed, the show was nothing compared to Les Misérables, but that didn't stop us from raving about it.

The Sopranos

I'm only about 8 years late in joining the fan club, but the Sopranos is an awesome series, and L and I are hooked. I love the slick direction, the crisp dialogs (and the Italian accents), and the way all the characters are fleshed out.

iEconomics

I know you've had enough of iPhone and iPod related news, but this article offers a fascinating insight into the complexity of globalization and how the iPod is really much more than the sum of its parts.

(Picture cropped from a graffiti-styled white wall of the MOMA)

Stumbled upon something really cool...

The basic premise of this site is that our experience online, most often called "surfing" is more likely a stumbing experience. We search for something, click on the link, don't like it, go back, click on some other link...you get the picture.

StumbleUpon is a great site to discover new sites, tag them with a thumbs up or down. I've found some really cool sites this way, and what better way to pass your time than stumbling through websites? I love their Firefox extension, so a cool site is just a click away!