The Weekend Which Refused to Go Away

2 things happened on this weekend. Both with effects that were felt even at the time of writing this post (~5:00 PM, the following Tuesday)

1) I saw the Batman movie (soon to be referred to as the Joker Movie) twice in two days. Like I told a friend, brilliant, poetic, orgasmic. Still feeling the chills from that one. The dialogues still rattle off my tongue, even ones that are a few sentences long.

2) I ate a soapy lamb sizzler right after the movie. i think it was pure optimism (and a little bit of i-can't-wait-to-eat) that drove us to that under populated restaurant. Well, Robin seems to have put the effects of that little jaunt wonderfully (albeit a little graphically)

Fact remains, choice of restaurant is one place where you NEED to walk ON THE BEATEN TRACK. Do as everybody else does. Else spend the next few days in the (very) private confines of the loo, or in surroundings that threaten to smell like it, if ya get my drift (pun intended)

Vodafone Elevator Ad. Take Me AWAY some far away .. Alerts

Vodafone Elevator Ad - The Real Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WvXgg5e5jo#

A spoof on one of my favourite ads... trying to get the song, it appears to be an original agency creation. kickass O&M.

Dude where's my bike

here's something i hope doesn't happen to me. Always secure the back wheel people. Always the back wheel...



from: The Fail Blog

THE LOST RING - TRAILER 1

watch!!

Kha(w)aja Mere Kha(w)aja...

Khawaja Mere Khawaja

RadioReloaded.com | Download thousands of MP3s

My Reduced Carbon Footprint

bought myself a bike.. use it to get to work everyday.
no autorickshaws, no burning fuel. Zero emissions (well, almost, depending on what i have eaten the previous night :P) Mine has officially become a Euro 256 compatible lifestyle.

and I love it !!

Cheers!!

Why I Feel Poor...

"You're never poor, just broke..."

Has been the mantra i have been following ever since I read it in a book a couple years ago. Has kept me happy, content, (and perpetually broke, but thats another matter) ever since.

Recent events, however, have had an impact on the believability of this mantra. Its a bit hazy, but lets try.


1) I was happy with my CD player and cell phone. Till I caught a rickshaw this morning, and saw that he had better stuff than i did.
2) I DIDN't lose money in the recent stock market crash. The country lost 7 trillion rupees, not even one of them was mine.
3) I`m 'broke' for >0.25 of the month.
4) People just assume I make more money than I actually do... no questions, no doubts. They're SURE of it.
5) When I correct them, they think I'm lying.
6)I wish there were less weekends in the month (thats right. I said LESS), simply because they are so damn expensive.
7)I have started saying "its not worth it" more often than I'd like to.
8)My laptop sucks so bad, when they play Call Of Duty(tm) on the office network, the server throws me out for being too slow.
9)My wallet has started to hurt my butt, because there are too many coins in it... (i`d prefer more notes)
10)I have a wish list, like everybody else... except that it looks more like a necessity list :(

Tough Day @ the Office??

I don't pretend to know much about these things (everybody else says i SHOULD), but this day the 21st of January saw a bloodbath at the stock exchange.
What i think this would mean, is that a whole lotta people with a whole lotta money put in there, will be undergoing a whole lotta pain.
Its not their pain per se that i'm worried about. Its just that i just happen to know a whole lotta folks who would be at the receiving end of most of that pain-induced-grief. (professionals operating in the financial services space... batchmates, friends all)
I hereby extend my support, shoulder and ear (pretty much everything save for the money) to get them out of their misery...

Lets hope things bounce back.

Cheers!!

Wii (in glee??)

I not so recently experienced the Nintendo Wii. (A little slow on the uptake, given that this thing released end of 2006) But in my defense, it does take that long for my friends to buy such a thing and then share it with me :)

Anyhooz, it was singularly the most involving gaming machine to have EVER entered my limited scope of things. I wont elaborate on how the damn thing works, or what makes it so involving.. I'll just let the video do the talking.



I swear to God, I got tired, sweaty and almost passed out (but not before knocking out my worthy opponent in a boxing match) Moms and health care practitioners will love this nifty device!

See how its done, and guess who won the Carl vs Lalla boxing match.

Cheers!!
-Varun


PS: I want me one of those... Buddha from the earlier posts, please take note.

How Our Pilot Got Lost

Kingfisher Airlines has this very nifty device installed on the back of every seat. It provides entertainment and information to its passengers, stuff like outside temperature, speed of travel, altitude, ETA, and, a real time map of the route we have traveled.


Sometimes, (like it did yesterday), it backfires.
Here is the most indirect route a plane must have ever taken.
Common sense indicates you fly in a straight line from point A to point B.
Rising Airline fuel prices would make you do the same.
Air Traffic Control makes sure you don't deviate too much from your flight plan.

Our pilot had other plans.


Check out the route we took coming in to Mumbai.

and I thought I was bad at directions!!

Cheers!!

Jab My Ears Didn't Pop

So I went on this little business trip to Delhi... flew there and had a cold. A reasonably bad cold, but nothing to worry about, right??
WRONG

I was very violently introduced to this thing called air pressure (or the lack of it), which started to make itself apparent at about 4600 mts above sea level. INSIDE MY HEAD.
There was just this balloon of air developing between my ears, and it was painful as hell... The most anokha pain I have experienced ever... EXCRUCIATING, anokha pain.

Let me point out at this juncture that this was an airbus... not the kind of bus you can ask to pull over, stop, or slow down, or anything. I was locked in, committed to 45 minutes of descent-induced pain. (evidently my head is more vulnerable to implosion rather than explosion, given the air pressure in my head was lower than outside and my 'cold situation' was preventing the equalisation of the said pressure).

ergo, Please, take it from me, firsthand.
DO NOT FLY WITH A COLD.
(and no, earbuds, earmuffs do not help)

Cheers!!
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*at the time of going to screen, the air pressure in the writer's head, and, consequently the hearing had only been restored to 75%

Wotsay?

Post Production Humor

The output of a particularly productive Saturday afternoon...

Enjoy!
-Varun

1) I tried to read your mind, but it was running at 2 fps (*1).
2) You're so thick, you can be classified as HD (*2).
3) What do you call a horny telecine machine? (De)Spirit 4K
4) He used to pleasure himself so much, they made him a shake (*3) artist.
5) He was so dark, our Lustre (*4)broke.
6) Yo Mamma's so fat, we had to change the aspect ratio.
7) Yo' Mamma's so fat, I had to photograph her in landscape mode.
8) Yo' Mamma's so fat, we made her wear green and used her as the chroma (*5) screen.
9) Yo' Mamma's so fat, she couldn't fit on our SAN (*6).
10) Yo' Mamma's so fat, we had to scan her in 8K (*7).

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For the uninitiated...
1) fps = frames per second. The normal speed is 24/25 fps depending on the medium.
2) HD = High Density
3) Shake = software/hardware combination to used to add visual effects to a scene.
4) Lustre = grading system used for colour correction.
5) croma = green screen used for vfx shots.
6) SAN = high capacity (some terabytes) hard disks typically used in data intensive workflows.
7) 8K = highest scanning resolution possible today, uses the highest amount of disk space per frame.

10 Reasons I Can't be Jason Bourne

1) They won't give me so many Visa's.
2) I don't know how to hotwire a car.
3) I can't ride a scooter that well... i'd simply fall off a high speed chase.
4) I can't find the quickest way out of Bandra, let alone NY, Madrid, or Morocco.
5) I don't know any secrets which may cause people to hurt me... Even if i DID know any, i'd forget them in a hurry.
6) I can't keep fighting once my nose is broken.
7) My nose can't mend itself.
8) I can't really walk incognito anwhere... (the Mathur clan has spread so far and wide, wouldn't be surprised if during an on foot chase sequence some kid yells "arre yeh toh Varun bhaiyya thhe.")
9) Mum wouldn't let me forget who I am (Thank God for that)
10) My online footprint is Waaay to large.

Every once in a while, in the course of your work, one comes across something amazing, brilliant and simply awesome.
Luckily, my course of work brings things that are a little more interesting, and pertinent to most people (given that I'm a part of the "entertainment" business)
Either ways, this is one of those bits that make the work all worth it.

"Hum chal rahe hain judaa judaa... par caravan toh ek hai"

Enjoy
Cheers!!

Vision Twenty20?

Congratulations to 'Team India' for the biggest comeback in recent times.
One look at the frenzy and fever this last week clearly demonstrates the "back to form" nature of our game. People leaving work early, trains empty, streets empty (although the streets went back to being full minutes after the last ball was bowled, in celebration, ie)

But, its not the game that excites me... nor the 'Return of It'. What gets to me is the way the entire machinery is so kicked about this performance. TV channels are happy that their single biggest cash cow, and their big investments in buying rights and setting up telecast is finally paying off... Advertisers want to recover from their World Cup fiasco... Viewers had all but lost hope of deriving any entertainment from the game whatsoever. Twenty20 may well have been the answer to everybody's prayers (or an elegant solution to everybody's problems... depending on which way you see it)

We win one popularised , "Americanised" version of the game, and everybody involved sees a ray of hope. Cricket is back (regardless of the way, shape or form) Its in their own best interest to hype this up even further. Expect all our 'players' to be suitably and overwhelmingly rewarded. Cars, houses, promotions and hard cash...

Heroes, all of them. Heroes of a nation and an economy starved for entertainment. Heroes of brands and corporations who bet big on the game, lost face and faith and then regained it.

Well played Team India!!!

Boo-daa

Hyderabad has this very nice little lake. They have boating and everything, and a Buddha statue in the middle of it. Given that I went there like a pucca tourist (sans the camera hanging from my neck, of course) I decided to take the boat ride as well.. followed by one of the finest dinners I have had in recent times. (The Waterfront, on Eat Street, Hussain Sagar Lake)

Loved the city, loved their roads, and loved the lakeside. I hereby aspire to have a bungalow in Banjara Hills.

O Buddha, grant me my aspirations.

Mere 2 Bhai

Theres this thing I say about friends... the ones who come to your party are friends... those who are among the last to leave are the best friends, and the ones who stay over are family...

This one goes out to two o' ma' brothers... (you`ll know who they are, and what they are best at) Figuratively speaking, of course.

Cheers!!

Leopold must be very very happy

Couple weeks ago i was mighty kicked about the new Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai... Awesome ambience, drinks and basically going on about how we all had a nice time (after a long time, too)
Well, last night we did the same at Cafe Leopold's (Colaba Causeway, although if you know me, chances are you will know where this is too)
what made this evening (and the place) special was
i) It was a very dear friends birthday party.
ii) went there (and sat upstairs) after the longest time, brought college rushing back into my head.
iii) Got a load of how much of a Mumbai landmark it has become (see picture above)

Lets see how long it takes for Hard Rock Cafe to get on of those...