Archives for the month of: November, 2008
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I was rejected (updates post).

November 24, 08 //
2

by a hot shot web designer who hath no time to teach after initially sorta being ok with the teaching thing. Lesson is “Self help is the best help”. I really think though, I might have come across as creepy. But I am so loveable, this makes me sad :/.

On to the other news though, jogging has been consistent, I even did a 11.00 pm midnight run, it’s been 2 weeks and I don’t see changes fast enough, will have to pump it up more. Cutting down on those 5 teas and removing junk shit have helped. It’s the run that is mentally an ache.

I read a really good post on Talent is overrated which you can access here. I have also found a good blog focus and will start working on that, I have been getting great tips and as usual Guy Kawasaki’s book has a plethora of great info. If you haven’t got it, make you get your copy of Reality Check asap. IT is one of the best books I have read this year.

I’ll be going to the Middle east as well for New Years, can’t wait to have some fun there. I am thinking of also getting a computer (desktop) soon, will be hitting the computer supermarket soon.

If you are in the USA and are attending the Thanksgiving sale, can you please get me a super cool apple set of ear phones? Please?

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Some quick Gmail tips in case you haven’t used them

November 21, 08 //
0

I live my life on Google mail aka Gmail. So obviously there are certain things I use. I have been wanting to write this post many times, but that all changed when I read Colin Powell’s quote which says, ”

Part I: “Use the formula P=40 to 70, in which P stands for the probability of success and the numbers indicate the percentage of information acquired.”

Part II: “Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, go with your gut.”

– display all unread messages through “is:unread”
sometimes you forget to star or label them and you can have many messages on the front page (since you don’t archive nor follow an inbox zero policy  buster..) so therefore you need to access the unread messages. In the gmail search bar on the top type in “is:unread” and that will display all your unread messages.

– display messages from users with attachment through “from:username has:attachment”
If you need to search a particular mail attachment from someone that has a .zip file or a .doc file and you have many emails from them then search with from:jenna has:attachment jpeg/doc/xls (whatever you choose to search) will list down only those attachments from the particular user. Super useful.


– search through a timeline of the email sent to you by someone with in:anywhere from:jenna filename:JPG before:2005/02/14
The only problem is the stupid format of yyyy dd mm, instead of the indianised dd/mm/yyyy. But this is a really useful feature for you to search mailbox/trash/archived items for an email from jenna with an attachment that ends with .jpg before the 14th of February.

– if you have a message under a label, then type label:To-Do for all messages marked with To-Do
An important tip here. The labels aren’t case sensitive (you can use capital or small letters) but if the labels are more than one word then you need a hyphen to see the rest. For example To Do label won’t show up if you use label:To Do, instead you should use label:to-do or label:To-Do or label:tO-dO to show up results.

Ya, so that’s about it.. by the way, for more cool reading about the 18 laws of leadership from Powel, read this link.

General cussing on us…

November 21, 08 //
1

Indians are way too conservative and way too polite. It’s been ingrained into our culture to be nicer and respect everyone. It is also the main reason we have been invaded and plundered far more than any other country. Now things are changing, bold people are stepping it up, but our culture is primarily one of “soft spoken” individuals.

This is not to be mistaken with some idiots (often seen on Techcrunch) passing their opinions like it matters, these are the anamolies and we are ashamed of them. A general observation though tells us that most of the people we see who are from India, currently staying in India, don’t have a confused desi outlook and speak their Indian tongue at home are far more timid (pussy) than they should be.

I’ll look at the language we use.  Everything we write with is super polite grammar. Can you EVER imagine a Fake Steve Jobs amongst us? We reply to emails with a “Dear Sir” to people we don’t know. We NEVER address people by the first name. Our language itself is one that’s highly reserved and straight out of a Wren and Martin Guide (for those that can write that is..). Why is that? Lack of confidence. Lack of respect for one self. Or just  nice manners. But overly nice is sick.

The other problems are that we aren’t an assertive race and we lack a lot of unity amongst us. When the Americans landed off the boat, they were united, they still are. They are just as diverse but truly as a race, they stand together and embrace change. We just want our daily Dosa on the table. It’s not diversity or the population (size) alone. It’s the mentality. We need one of change, we need to shake off that lethargy and contentment with doing one good job one day and instead keep that performance up for ever. Not for your boss, not for your mother, not for your girlfriend. For yourself alone.

It pains me to see that we aren’t bold enought to step it up. This doesn’t mean you launch a war out on America, it’s that you pick up the best that America has to offer and you make it your own.  That starts with punctuality, confidence, open mindedness and ambition. INSTEAD, we pick up sex, voyeur, britney’s fashion and American Idol. Why why why?

Step it up. Make a decision to be bolder, assert yourself better, don’t put up with shit, we have to do what we do with pride. This post is a remind yourself this and less of a rant.

One fangirl dream down, 4 more to go.

November 20, 08 //
3

I have no shame in admitting that I am a fanboi/groupie to certain people on this earth. That’s because I respect their ideals, their mannerisms and the way they communicate. The list so far is

– Guy Kawasaki
– Seth Godin
– Michael Jackson
– Michael Jordan
– Arnold Schwarzenegger

Out of wanting to meet these people or get some memorabilia from them, I have achieved one. This would not have been possible, if the person on the top of the list wasn’t one of the kindest individuals. Guy Kawasaki sent me an autographed copy of his book, Reality Check, which is currently the 4th best selling book in Malaysia!

Obviously, I was super excited especially because this was a book that’s not available in stores (in India), and to have an autographed copy???? WOOHOO.

receiving the courier

receiving the courier

seeing the cover and getting hopelessly excited

seeing the cover and getting hopelessly excited

KICK BUTT !!!

KICK BUTT !!!

Are you into numbers?

November 18, 08 //
0

To get what your life number is you have to add all your digits together to form a single number.

For example, if you were born on 1st april 1985 then your number is 1 + 4 (for april) + 1+ 9+ 8 + 5, that amounts to a total of 28. Add the 2+8, that gives 10, that finally equals 1.

Similarly, if you were born on 12th December 1955 you would add 1+2+1+2+ 1+9+5+5 to give you 26, that is 8. I hope you get the picture now. To describe what type of a number you are, once you do that exercise now note down the number and refer to these sites for pretty accurate predictions of the number.

– Life numbers website 1
– Life number website 2
– Life number website 3

I found some of them to be pretty accurate indicators of my personality/character. What about you?

Max Payne movie review – another whatwasthat?

November 18, 08 //
0


I love comic book adaptation movies. Iron man and the Incredible Hulk (the one with E.Norton) were suprisingly good for being commercial (that’s a slang for catering to the public like Spiderman by altering the story and filling it with feel good romantic titbits). I loved the Dark Knight and Batman Begins, because although not perfect, they were really the closest to the true character of Batman. He is dark, and his graphic novels are not for kids to read. They require you to stand at a certain level of maturity and understanding to be able to grasp the fullness of Batman.

I haven’t read Batman R.I.P but I have a fear they are going to kill him and remove one of the best loved characters of the comic book series ever :-/. But this post is about Max Payne the movie.

It sucked.

It is a ghoulash of video game scene edits combined with a comic outlook with a very weak plotline and very undergrade acting. Mark Walberg’s not the Oscar material in this, but what’s worse is Mila Kunis’ role of Mona Sax that’s 10 times sadder. I was so happy to see the return of Olga (the Bond girl) then I realised that she strips in the movie for like 2 minutes without showing anything and then dies. Then there’s that whole poker faced Max payne who is out to find out who killed his wife and son. I’m not giving a spoiler to the whole plot that’s messed up. If you should want to spend time watching a movie, watch the Godfather instead or watch the Hitman, that was a far better movie.

The story of Max Payne, in case someone is wondering, is that of a DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) who tracks down rogue killers that murdered his wife and kid (so far that’s also there in the movie). What happens is that in his tracking of the killers, he infiltrates the Mafia (not there) and tries to find out leads. His old friend Alex Balder (somewhat there) turns out to be killed by an unknown assassin and he is found to be the suspect. The mafia then find out he’s a cop and want him dead as well. He then does the gungho thing, finds out the killers and finally you know the good ending that invariably pops in.

Where was all that in this movie? This is about a pug faced hero with occasional flashes of finesse in the movie and the darkness of the movie is enough to stifle a yawn. Terrible. I didn’t even complete the last 10 mins, I just hit delete to it. My rating 4/10 (2 for Mila Kunis, 2 for Olga).

The documentary that BBC failed at.

November 15, 08 //
1

I had respect for the BBC. They had good reporting and weren’t racy like CNN. However this documentary was sufficient to point that all they seek is to entertain and fill in a sunday spot of a few hours. A friend of mine passed on the “The Secret Swami” documentary that had made it’s rounds a couple of years back.

The documentary throws allegations on the spiritual Guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba as being homosexual and above the law. It takes you through the various temple towns and shows you what the various opinions of Baba are among the common folk. Very heart warming, but ultimately fails against the BBC’s reporting. I have no idea who Tanya Dutta is and besides being hot, I doubt she might have done any other great work. Sadly, more to her 10 minutes of fame, it’s the family in the movie that I cannot completely sympthasize with. I also  found out that she’s free lance and this documentary helped catapult her status in reporting.  She’s convinced that there is proof to these allegations by just one family’s account, wow that’s some deadly reporting there Tanya.

I am an agnostic and while I do believe in the principles of Sai Baba, this God concept is something that I am unclear of. He is human and has stated that he’s human and has taken this birth to do good. So far I think his scorecard is pretty impressive. The other godmen that have come have failed to deliver except for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who has got a good thing going on with the Art of Living course.

What is necessary though is not to bias your thoughts with publicity seeking methods. There’s that “charlatan buster” some Premanand who has a groupie (guy) that can perform the same miracles. Can they attract the same followers and provide over 50 villages water that they didn’t have for 5 years? I don’t think so.  Then there’s this “super snoop” reporting, they take a hidden camera to Michael Goldstein (who is the top gun of the international Sai organisation) and try to fish out something. Obviously they couldn’t replicate Tehelka’s success.

I understand that the couple and their son has gone through some trauma, atleast from what they claim. But the guy who is 6 6″ in height was apparently raped. Lol. They have admitted that they love the center of attention and that they feeling special was something that they thrived upon. The mom was a crack junkie and was a Hollywood groupie as well. The dad seemed far better. If this really happened, then I am sad. But where is the proof? What “legal” proof do they have? There is evident proof plus a confession that Bill Clinton had sexual favours performed. What do these guys have? The worst part is the mom says, “Omg we really thought that with this we can bring down the giant following”. Therein lies their intention, claim to fame through publicity when Hollywood sleeping around didn’t work out.

An atheist I respect on the other hand, is Richard Dawkins, who is the author of the God Delusion. There he stats a well grounded proof and shows that evolution is the basis and that this God concept is not really true. That might have some more logical grounds for an agnostic to look at.

The only problem I see with atheism is the lack for an explanation as to why this Universe came into being. They base is it on “random chance” and that there is “no sufficient explanation” to why this universe was created, the reason for the diversity of the species. The good thing though is they don’t stick toone theory, they are researching, so they can keep evolving as and when something is explained. Like the Newtonian mechanics was hailed as God truth (pardon the pun) then came along Einstein to disprove it. Just like the various theories that science has struggled to put forward to explain. They fail in one domain. The reason for this creation, the reason for Earth being chosen as the habitat.

All’s not rosy at the Religious camp either. They can’t seriously believe that 3 billion people’s actions are known by some higher being sitting on athrone and watching us. They don’t have a good justification saying that there is abeing who created us and fooled around with us so that he can see how devoted we are to get back to him. That’s dumb. There are no explanations as to why God would allow so many murders, deaths, train wrecks, explosions and lettting terrorists live.

This is not my view of religion, I’ll get to that in another post. This is my observation that both sides (religious and scientific) fail to have sufficient proof to convince either. Till then we will have them duelling forever.

Update:- apparently even Tanya didn’t share everything she learnt. Read some hidden facts.

If you don’t have something to say..

November 13, 08 //
0

If you have something to say, and the talent to say it, then shout it out. But if you have something to say and you don’t know how, then learn. If you don’t have anything to say, and you don’t know how, then please, save the bandwidth for those who do and find other methods of releasing your passion. You don’t have to blog just because everyone else seems to be doing it. – Lorelle

In other words. If you know something and are an expert, be cool and share it. If you aren’t an expert and want to say something (like me) then learn (which I have started doing). If you aren’t either then please just stfu. Taken from one of the best blogs I have read that talk about Wordpress and content – Lorelle on Wordpress.

Focus on the important, not the urgent.

November 13, 08 //
0

I have always been a fan of all things involving lifehacking, prioritisation and money making online. Primarily because I have no clue how the leaders in those fields do it. That’s one of the “goals” of this blog, to share with you whatever I learn. I know you might end up earning more through this, but that’s ok, you’ll atleast get profiled by me here then ;-) .

For effective time management, it’s necessary to know a couple of things.

Goals determine your tasks.
You are on a football field, you see a goal. Your aim is to score. It’s that simple. Everyone who comes in your way from the opposite team (and there are loads of them) are just distractions.  You have to write down your goals and what it is you wish to achieve and be a selfish bitch about it.

Tasks in decreasing order of priority
Brain Tracy has a nice book called Eat that Frog. The basic idea is you have to eat the frog first and forget the tadpoles. Aka do the shittiest job first. AND THEN only do the small ones. This I find is an easy concept to write a book about… but to do is another task.

There are 2 types of tasks

  • Important activities have an outcome that leads to the achievement of your goals.
  • Urgent activities demand immediate attention, and are usually associated with the achievement of someone else’s goals, or with an uncomfortable problem or situation that needs to be resolved.

That’s all, in part of being selfish Focus on the first, ignore the second. They are just distractors and they come in pleas, cries, bargains, orders whatever. Learn to say no, be nice while saying it and keep to it. In the end if you don’t achieve your targets, you’ll be the one thrown out.

So in the end, effective time management is -

- Set Goals (Lose weight 10 kilos)
- Set tasks that will get you to those goals (jog everyday, diet till you are reek thin, don’t dream of cakes and melting chocolate)
- Avoid distractions (please come for dinner, let’s go partying, “dude jog tomorrow man..”)
- Focus on the important

I saw Quantum of Solace and I am disappointed.

November 7, 08 //
1

Casino Royale was fantastic. They brought back Bond from just the techno juggling smooth operator sleeping with everything that has boobs to a rugged man on a mission with Daniel Craig who actually shows a sensitive angle to his tough exterior. As an avid Bond fan, I went into this movie with so much hope and I was let down. It was my birthday treat to a couple of losers but I couldn’t help feeling I could have treated them better.

The story is far too complicated and it looks like the directors were trying too hard to get some shit together. I get it, Bond’s angry, he wants revenge, but did they have to make a mockery of this? Don’t get me wrong, the movie’s not ALL that bad, but after a stunning treat like Casino Royale this looked like a noob contender. It is some tightly gripping action scene clips put together by combining a mindless jump over continents with some vague revenge theme.

The pros

  • Brilliant action scenes
  • HOT bond female, Olga has me checking her website images now
  • Daniel Craig doesn’t disappoint in his role.
  • Quick paced
  • Superior minority report type touch screen technology
  • Cool Sony Ericsson technology (I love that phone)
  • Bond kills everyone man (that is so cool)
  • Brilliant Action scenes (oh wait did I mention that already?)

The cons

  • What the eff is Felix Lighter doing in the movie?
  • Villian was given such a pussy role
  • Over crunched edited too much story has to be here type scenes
  • 10,000 BC fart of different countries without explaining how they get there.
  • CIA are a bunch of dumbasses (forgiven since Bush is the President)
  • M lacks the charm she carried in the other movies Bond seems more assured than her

Here are some comments from RottenTomatoes.com and Imdb that reflect my thoughts.

Quantum of Solace offers next to no solace, if we mean respite, but in plunging its hero into a revenge-displacement grudge mission, it has the compensation of a rock-solid dramatic idea, and the intelligence to run and run with it.

Perhaps this is a tactically ruthless and designedly impersonal Bond movie, a clever tease getting us ready for the returning solvents – next time round – of charm, humour and eccentricity

I get that this new Bond is supposed to be more brutal and vicious, but is he also brain dead and stupid?

The emotional power, intelligence and sheer stylishness of Casino Royale has been lost amidst the noisy blur of sub-Bourne action sequences.

Bond gets his cards frozen yet travels from Austria to Italy somehow. He teams up with a guy he hated and thought had betrayed him to get some shitty help. And the guy dies and is dumped (literally). The opera scene has no relevance except to lead on to another shooting scene.

This was like a high gadget hindi movie with a hot female lead and an actor that loves to kill. I’m pretty sure the Indian heros couldn’t have matched up to Daniel Craig, but seriously, watch Casino Royale again and wait for the next Bond movie, you can pass up on this one. You can oogle at Olga with these pictures, that’s what I did once I got back.

Isn’t she lovely?

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