South Africa, you chokers!

What's wrong with this country at the bottom of the African continent? They perform well for almost 3/4th of the match, only to find themselves at the losing side. Yesterday's match was no different. It was reminiscent of the World Cup 2003 match between Srilanka and South Africa. Needing 129 to win by the end of 13th over (D/L method), the team successfully manages to lose the match by 1 run. The culprits this time were Albie Morkel and A B DeVillers. They showed no real desperation and just manage to fetch 7 runs. And this after clearly given the instruction about the target. Again I fail to understand why the heck do we need to display the target as something like this: SOUTH AFRICA NEEDS 8 RUNS TO BE ON PAR. Is it Golf? Why not just display it as - SOUTH AFRICA NEEDS 9 RUNS TO WIN. It's crazy! Though it wouldn't have been any different for me had SA won the match, but it is the manner in which they lose that makes me red. And to sum it all, we see the "hulky"Graeme Smith puts up a brave face with a chuckle when the rain god finally listens to the nature's call!

I am smarter than a 5th grader but main panchvi pass se tez nahin hoon

All the hype for Kya aap panchvi pass se tez hain? turned sour when the actual program got aired on Star Plus on 25th April, 2008. Before the program began, I had gone through the Youtube videos of the American version - Are you smarter than a 5th grader? hosted by Jeff Foxworthy. It was just superb. Right from the host to the kids, everything about it was perfect. The questions were indeed were from 5th grade or below. In fact the first question asked in KAPPSTH was tough enough to make thousands to change their channel. i fail to understand, how can a child from 2nd standard know - how many edges does a triangular prism has? I am sure many first year engineering students won't be able to figure it out. First of all, how many of them out there know the difference between a vertex, face, side or a edge. Very few indeed. It's unfair. Tomorrow they will cook up a question ( say Fermat's equation) and claim it's found in some fifth standard book. I expected some equal playing field. Any way, if the questions keep on getting tougher, then it will die a early death and then let's see who's say kya aap panchvi pass se tez hain? And the things are already getting awry for Star Plus.

IPL begins in few hours yet its website is...

In few hours from now, Indian Premier League will begin, setting a new milestone in the history of world cricket. But the official website is in a shoddy state. Few days back the links led to an ERROR PAGE. Today as I read in Cricinfo that a Canadian company has got the rights for maintaining the official website of Indian Premier League, I thought of checking it out.

Now check out the websites of each of the eight playing teams. I must say, Delhi Daredevils has got the best of the lot. Kolkota Knight Riders too aren't far behind. IPL was launched two months back yet it's sad that they couldn't come up with a useful website. Already cricket sites like Cricinfo and Cricketnext.com have come up with fantasy game. In fact, when you try to log in to CNN IBN's website, you are first taken to the Cricketnext.com's IPL fantasy game site.
IPL was born out of Indian Cricket League (ICL). Hadn't ICL been conceived, there wouldn't have been any IPL. We have to wait and watch how IPL turns out. More than the fans, it will be the ECB and Mr. Stanford who will have sleepless nights, trying to figure out how to start a new 20-20 league.
So get ready for what promises to be the next big thing of Cricket.

Why iPod Classic is a classic example of making things hard for customers by being simple

As promised earlier, I am back with my experience using iPod Classic. My brother had his photos copied (or moved) to iPod. He actually went for the 'sync option' provided in iTunes. For those who haven't used it, iTunes is an all-in-one software (as Apple claims) for your iPod. But the reality is something else. Once you have copied photos to iPod, there's no way you can retrieve it back to your PC. I tried out many a things as mentioned in the manual but all in vain. I checked out some forums and other sites and found out many are facing similar problems. There are softwares to retrieve photos from iPod but aren't free. I felt helpless. I had faced much worser problems with Windows, but everytime, I got enough solutions from the internet to crack them out. But over here, none was effective. I took a risk and synced my iPod with my PC. Rest is history. I thought I am doomed (I still feel). I even don't know whether my brother had a backup of the photos. I went and searched for applications that can recover deleted photos from iPod. There were few (sharewares) out there. I tried two of them (wasting 4 hours) but couldn't recover the photos. I am sure there's some way out but don't know how. Meanwhile I just hope brother had kept a backup of the photos.

Safari rocks other browsers

Well, how is that Apple manages to get everything right everytime? I have never used a Mac in my life. I've been using a PC daily since '95. And all these years never once did I had any opportunity to work on a Mac. The only Apple products that I have used are Quicktime, iTunes, iPod Classic and now Safari, their web browser. I felt Quicktime wasn't upto the mark maybe due to its lack of functionality in Windows. Moreover VLC and jetaudio made things easier. Initially I thought iTunes was waste of time until I started to use it again in 2004, I felt there's nothing like it. iPod Classic is sure a great player. But the headphones a bit hard for my ears. I am in look out of a reasonably priced ear canal headphones (Sennheiser costs 3500!!). Also lost photos kept in my iPod because of its overtly simplified methods (will be blogging in detail).
But, with the updated Safari 3.1, all my notions about Apple is taking a back seat. I had used Safari earlier when it was first released for Windows. It was a nightmare then. I didn't bother much on it as i was happy with Opera and Firefox and sometimes IE7. But now, Apple has made me to rethink on my options. I find Safari the fastest without any doubt. I checked out sites like hindustantimes.com and timesofindia.com, which used to take few minutes to get loaded on Opera and Firefox. But on Safari, its very quick, infact it gets loaded in seconds. The interface is just superb with its strong resemblance to iTunes. Bookmarked sites are seen on the top below the address bar, making it easy for the user. Tabbing is present just like any other browser. One drawback is that I couldn't find any plugins. Especially something like stumbleupon!. For that Firefox has a advantage, considering that I never use IE7. As for security related issues, I do not know much about it but I just hope there aren't many.

Funny cricketing moments

Few of the funny moments in Cricket, that I had scanned few years back. Do not miss the runout article- the most hilarious incident in cricket.

Blogging Begins Again

It's almost a year since I blogged. That time it ended at the closing of IFFK 2006. The blog begins shortly.........

Closing Day, IFFK

Didn't see any films today. 33 films have taken a toll on me. I went to the closing ceremony in the evening where the prize distribution too was held. Here's the list:

Survarna Chakoram (Best Film): Angel's Fall and Forever Flows.

Rajata Chakoram (Best Director): Fireworks Wednesday.

Rajata Chakoram (Best Debut Film): Sankara.

Audience Prize Rajata Chakoram: The Violin.

FIPRESCI (The International Federation of Film Critics): Sankara.

NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Film Centre): Forever Flows.

So the last of the film festivals come to an end. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movies and meeting new people. Eagerly waiting for next year's event.

DAY7, IFFK

So its the penultimate day of the festival. And once again the strikes are going to play spoilsport. Its a 24 hour strike and all the public transport systems have stopped. Fortunately got a lift to Kairali Theatre where T V Chandran's Aadum Koothu was screening. Like most of his films, this one too is well narrated. Cheran, Prakash Raj and Navya Nair have all given good performances. But I somehow feel the movie should have ended fifteen minutes early. The audiences seem to have loved the movie very much and it wouldn't be surprising if it turns out to be a hit when it's released.
In the afternoon I saw two documentaries and a short film. First documentary Blue Sun Green Moon. was about noted writer Ayyappa Panikker. It's informative but technically not sound. Second was a feature documentary Thousand Days And A Dream. The documentary is about the struggle of people of Plachimada against the Coca Cola Company. Very well made and highly informative. My only advise: SHOW THIS TO AAMIR KHAN, RADHIKA & SMRITI IRANI. And then ask them do they still care about HUMANITY?? The short film Life Is A Diamond was made by a young South African lady. Cannot comment on it because I couldn't understand the story and technically it wasn't sound either.
Evening I saw the movie Anantharam by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Amazing movie. Well scripted, well photographed, and well edited and ofcourse very well directed. The best thing is that the story structure is in a non-linear pattern. The child artist did a amazing job.
The day ended after watching Bernie, a film by Albert Dupontel. Though I liked his earlier two movies but this one was a complete let down. High on violence it almost made me puke. The story is about a orphan (Albert Dupontel) who after spending 30 years of his life in an orphanage goes in search of his parents. And then starts his violent search for his parents. And in his search he just about butcher anyone who comes in his way. Already feeling bad. Must stop here.