The New Avataar

My Blog is back with a new look! Again! So what? It is my blog, my space, right? So I can change the look and feel as many times as I want. Now that being established, the reason for this particular change was that I was struggling to find the right look for the blog for some time. I was not happy with the reds and the greys I subjected it to in between. I was experimenting with different looks. Finally I got this one and decided to keep it. This one is minimalist; a plain white canvas. And I get to customize it the way I want. Okay, I don’t have the time or much inclination to do a lot of customization. But I thought I will bring in some changes that I had been planning on doing for a while now. First and foremost I wanted to add proper labels or tags instead of the categories that I having been using. The categories were pretty neat to classify the posts under various heads – random, sports, technology, etc. However that way I could not tag the posts based on content. So it was not possible for anyone to search for posts they wanted to read based on key words or tags. Unfortunately Blogger does not have an option to have both - categories and labels/ tags like Wordpress has. So I decided to use the tags or labels by key words and do away with my earlier categories. Hence now you see a huge cloud of tags/ labels on the right side column.

Another change is that I wanted to do away with my twitter updates showing up on the blog. I thought that having my twitter updates on the blog was not adding any value to the blog. And anyone out there interested in reading my tweets can follow me on twitter. So I thought I should just leave the ‘Follow Me’ option and not display the tweets. And that’s what I did. It makes the blog look cleaner. The biggest trade off I had to do in adopting this look was not able to carry my blog description. I had to do away with. But just like me and my writing, my blog should also keep evolving. So from now on, my blog title will go without any description. Atleast for the time being! So I wish my blog and this website all the best. May you attract a lot more readership and appreciation in the coming days!

Reality Show Bytes!!

Most of us people all over the world are suckers for reality shows. This is a global phenomenon - be it ‘American Idol’ to ‘Dancing with the Stars’ to ‘Indian Idol’ to ‘Britain's got Talent’ to ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’ to ‘Rakhi or Rahul's Swayamwar’. There is an overflow of reality shows all around and different people follow different shows. I have never ever been a fan of these reality shows except for the initial days of ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’ (when Sonu Nigham used to host the show) or an occasional ‘American Idol’ or ‘DWTS’ (how can you not watch it when you have Pamela Anderson as a participant?). Though I don’t watch reality shows, I don’t have anything against them either. They follow the general principle of getting viewers involved and then appealing to their emotions.

First is your regular run of the mill talent shows. Examples of these shows would be - The ‘Idol’, ‘America’s Got Talent’ to our desi ‘Boogie Woogie’ and ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’. These shows have contestants competing against one another on a common skill (singing, dancing, etc) and or a combination of skills. Most such shows require people to vote for their favorite contestants and the winner is decided by the one who gets the most votes. But just like in real life, even here people do not vote for the right candidate and the wrong person wins.

Second are the reality shows of the genre of ‘KBC’ or ‘Dus Ka Dum’ or ‘Jeopardy’. These shows are general or specialized knowledge based shows and tests the intellectual skills of the contestants. The person who answers the most questions correctly wins. This is a rather straightforward version of the reality show and everything happens in front of the studio audience. No hocus-focus voting here.

The third type of reality shows are the stupid ones – ‘Rakhi ka Swayamwar’ or ‘I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here’ or ‘Big Brother/ Boss’. These shows are stupid because they are not showcasing anything productive of any kind. They are plain stupid and show stupid people desperate to get their faces on camera. There is no reason for these shows to be there.

Fourth is probably the most popular category right now – reality shows on people’s lives. So we have ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’, ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’, ‘Girls Next Door’, ‘Kendra’…the list could go on and on. This category is reality TV at its worst. People live their lives on camera. We see them sleeping, eating, fighting, etc as it happens. Why is this worst? From whatever I have read on life after these shows are done with; the families always break up after all the intense glare of the camera. Classic examples being the Hulk Hogan family that broke up after the show ‘Hogan knows Best’ got over.

But I have a huge problem with one type of reality show. This type of shows get me all worked up. These are the reality shows that use, portray or feature children. Shows like John & Kate plus eight, The Toddler and the Tiara top this list. John and Kate…show is about a couple John and Kate who have eight kids – a set of twins and then a set of sextuplets. The show features the family’s everyday life. The parents are both fame and publicity hungry people who want to cash in on their kids. In the process of the shows, they separated, blasted each other in the media and made total idiots of themselves on TV. Who ultimately suffered? The kids of course! Why is it that parents push their kids into media spotlight when they should know beforehand that the kids are always going to be affected negatively? Is it so hard to understand that if you expose a six year old to 24 hour camera, he will not grow up into a normal human being?  Aren’t all the cases of Hollywood and TV child stars straying towards substance addiction a case to prove this? Even in India, the emergence of all these singing and dancing competitions has shown parents pressurize their kids to become the next child superstar. Parents want to live their own dream through their kid. There is no harm in that. But they also need to ensure that a kid is a kid at the end of the day. Push them only to the extent till they enjoy the act or the competition. Beyond that it is not fair. And nothing gives you a right to exploit a child! Even if it is your own!

So there it is! My take on the enormously popular ‘Reality Shows’ of today! I will continue to not watch these shows. And I will continue to crib about them. And that is the Reality of it!

Remembering Star Trek Enterprise

I don’t know why but I remembered the good old days. The good old days of Doordarshan! More specifically I remembered the adventures of Captain Kirk and his Starship Enterprise. Yes, the original Star Trek. It was such a cool television series. Technologically way ahead then – I still distinctly remember the cool flip phones (probably inspired today’s cell phones) that they carried. The smart uniforms of the crew were on the wish list of so many geeky kids then. And the best part was the transportation – ‘Beam me up Scotty’. Yes! It was probably the first time the concept of teleportation – ‘matter-energy transfer’ was shown. Even the concept of video chatting was something that now is a household phenomenon for us must probably owes its inspiration to Star Trek. It probably was also a first time where the entire crew was a combination of cross cultural, cross national group of people. 

And of course the best part was the crew – Captain James Kirk, Spock, Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy, Scotty, Uhura and the gang. And yes, their cool bridge and the cool star ship – Starship Enterprise. There were many more versions of Star Trek that came later, which actually rechristened this original series as Star Trek -The Original Series.

I-Phone 4 First Impressions and some more..

Just back from a relaxing evening that also included a quick trip to the Apple store. And I sure checked out the I-Phone 4. First impressions - every written word about how good the hardware is - is absolutely true. It looks fabulous; feels great in hand and has an amazing display. But beyond that I found it exactly like my 3GS. Maybe I felt that way because I now have the iOS 4.0 on my phone. I am already used to the look and feel of the new OS. That is why I didn’t feel much of a difference beyond the obvious. However, I did not try the 'Facetime' or the main rear facing 5mp camera. So i cannot comment on those features; and those are two of the main features of this phone. So I will reserve my final say till I spend more time with the phone. But based on my initial impressions I might not upgrade to the  I-Phone 4. I feel it is not 'irresistible' enough to to upgrade.

Talking about other smartphones, the Droid X is just around the corner. The EVO is not even a month old. Great times for smartphone lovers. And yes, I forgot to mention the Dell Streak. It is coming soon in the US and is something to look forward to. Choices! Choices! So which one is better. Well, who cares! It is a win win situations for the consumers. Let the models keep coming. 

I will be writing more detailed reviews/first impressions on some of these beautiful gadgets in the near future.

Kobe Bryant - Game, Set & Match

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics in game 7 of the NBA Finals to be crowned the 2010 NBA World Champions. It was a terrific game of basketball and the result was only decided at the end. The game climaxed a great series full of physicality and poise. In the end the Lakers perhaps wanted it a little bit more especially after the humiliation of 2008. And the architect of this win – Kobe Bryant.

So why am I writing this post about the Lakers and Kobe? I don’t even like Lakers that much. After all they have been the Spurs’ (my favorite team) Achilles heel for so long. No I am not writing this post about the Lakers. I am writing this post about Kobe Bryant. Kobe, the player who I thought was insecure and arrogant till a couple of years back. But after seeing this series and the subsequent interviews (Kobe’s of course), I am a huge fan now. I started watching the NBA from 1996. That was the first of the 3 titles that Michael Jordan’s Bulls won. I became a huge MJ fan and continue to be one. To date, after watching 15 years of basketball, I still maintain that MJ is the best basketball player I have seen or there has ever been (I have seen a lot of old time greats on video later on). So the argument for me never was who the greatest player of all time is! It was always who the second best player of all time is. And after yesterday’s finals I would safely say, in my opinion, now it is Kobe Bryant. Kobe joined the Lakers as the 13th overall pick in the 1996 draft straight from High School. He tasted success early on winning 3 consecutive titles from 2000 to 2002. But the credit for those titles goes more to his more outspoken partner of those times – Shaq. Kobe though an important part of the duo was never fully credited with those wins. There was always a question mark over his legacy. Can he win the title on how own? Can he ever come out of Shaq’s shadow?

On 17th June 2010 he did. Not because he won the title without Shaq. He did that in 2009 as well. More so on his own as compared to this year. But this year, he also made his team-mates better. He put them in a situation where they delivered in crunch situations. All that without sacrificing his 30 points per game production. He understood that  Rajon Rondo of the Celtics will be the difference maker in these finals. After all he was the difference make in the Celtics’ wins over the Cavs and the Magic. Kobe took upon himself to guard Rondo. And he did a very good job of it. In game 7, when Kobe’s shooting form deserted him, he elevated his rebounding to a different level; fully understanding that every game in the series has been won by the team that has dominated the boards. Kobe Bryant became the greatest Laker in my books surpassing West, Kareem and Magic. Also he is and probably will always remain the second best player ever. As for the likes of Lebron James surpassing him – well let Lebron win a title..then 5; then we’ll talk. As for now, it is game, set and match for Kobe.

That's a 50!

Finally the first milestone. This is the 50th post on this blog. So a milestone reached. Technically it is not the 50th post - since I had a blog since 2006 to 2008; but for some unknown reason deleted the blog and all the posts. So I lost out on quite a volume there. Anyways, in my continuation since this blog is in existence, I reach 50. Congratulations to "Another Brilliant Mind"!

And befitting this occasion, I present to you our very own  Superman & Spiderman (Spiderwoman?). Now we know why all Indians feel so safe and secure. Thanks to such Superheroes!

I found this on the net & it was too funny to pass up.

Quotable Quotes

Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost.
Martina Navratilova

A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
Mark Twain

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates
 

I don't think sex could ever be as rewarding as winning the World Cup. It's not that sex is not great; just that the World Cup is only every four years and sex is a lot more regular than that.
Ronaldo

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
Frank Sinatra