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Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Manic Miner

Can you believe that this thing was written completely in Javascript ? Amazing.

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Grammar God!
You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be.
Congratulations and thank you!


How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thursday, April 08, 2004

Linux: As expensive as windows ?

From Forbes : Linux Loyalists Leery

or, why big companies are halting linux deployments in favour of Windows.
Interesting link -

Surgeons Who Play Video Games Err Less

This concerns laparoscopic surgery, in which the surgeon uses a joystick to remotely control instruments that have been inserted inside the body. Apparantly the same hand-eye skills are required when playing video games. Thus surgeons who play video games regularly, are much more skilled at controlling objects using a joystick while watching a TV screen.

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Well, a small break due to house/office work. Nothing much to write about either. Went to see the rugby sevens tournament over on Sunday. Torrential rain, but luckily they gave out disposable ponchos for the spectators. So wore it and sat in the rain while watching the matches. Nice fun. The weather eased out during the evening and was all dry for the final few matches. In the end, South Africa beat Argentina with a sudden death try in extra time to take the cup. Pretty engrossing stuff.

Saturday, March 27, 2004

It's 4 am right now and I'm polishing my shoes...

Social Networking

Decided to check out this whole social networking thing when I got an orkut invitation. After being on it for about a month, I'm still totally clueless as to why its supposed to be so cool. I can't figure out what you actually do once you join. Boring !

Topic: Social Networking
Siddhi's Rating: Dud

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

I just ran into a great resource for wet shaving.

These two MSN groups are really good -

WetShavers
TheWetShavers

I've recently been looking into my shaving methods in more detail, and nowdays my shaving is more fun than it has ever been, and I feel totally great after I'm done. Some days I spend up to twenty minutes just shaving. Wonderful ! Banished forever are the days when shaving was boring, and took just 2 minutes. I'm now on the quest to find the perfect shave, no matter how long it takes.

My current shaving regime is -

Splash warm water on face
Dip brush into water and let the excess water drain
Add shaving cream to brush
Apply to face and lather on the face
Shave with the grain with minimal pressure (for me that is downwards on my face as well as neck)
Wash face
Apply non-alcoholic aftershave gel


I'll be adding a couple of extra steps tomorrow -

Place warm towel on face for 30 seconds to further soften hair and open pores
Lather on the palm of my hand before applying cream to the face
Convert the one pass shave to a two pass shave - with the grain and across the grain
Store used razor blades in a cup filled with vegetable oil (to preserve sharpness). Apparently this extends the lifespan of the blades.

The main test will be the shave around my neck area, especially around the adams apple. The shave over there is usually not very smooth and the skin there is prone to irritation and ingrown hairs. This is why I only rarely shave against the grain in my neck region. Will have to see if the towel makes it better.

Anyone else with some other ideas on shaving ?

Sunday, March 07, 2004

Movie Review : Irreversible

Enough people have talked about THOSE scenes, so I'm not going to add anything apart from agreeing that they were extremely violent, very painful to watch, and in fact at times I did have to look away from the screen because I could not take it.

Okay, with that taken care of, we can now concentrate on the rest of the film. Overall, I thought the film was pretty well made. It was not an enjoyable film at all (you have to be pretty weird to actually have fun watching this film), but it was a very poignant, emotional film.

I'm going to assume you have clicked on some of those links, so you know who the characters are.

This first half of the movie is sheer hell. The camera twist and turns in unpredictable ways. If you dont get totally dizzy, you will at least get a feeling of nausea. It starts off with a scene with two men searching a gay S&M club for a guy called 'The tapeworm'. Here the sound effects really get going with a heavy growling soundtrack, and by now you will be positively sick. Which is just as well, because its followed by that violent murder scene. The next scene shows these guys searching for this club, and we soon realise that the movie is going backwards from end to start. Soon enough, you are sick of the camera, and wish it would stabilize, which it does, and you quickly regret it, because you are left to see the 9 minute long rape scene. Like I said, I wont say much about this scene because everyone else has commented enough. See the links at the start of this post.

Once thats over, the camera settles down, and the story quickly turns from violent to touching. We see life as it was before it disintegrated. We see everyone talking in the subway on the way to the party. And, in probably one of the most touching scenes, we see Alex find out that she is pregnant. In the back of our mind, we already know how things are going to end, and that makes this scene all the more heart wrenching. The stark contrast between the two halves of the movie create even more emotional discord in the viewer. The only jarring thing in the whole movie was the ending, where there is a strobing light that quickly increases in frequency. I felt like my head was about to explode. I have no idea why that was included.

The camera work and cinematography was good. You could easily get the feeling of calm or unrest just by viewing the movements of the camera. The dialogue, though banal at times, was also very natural in some areas. The conversation in the subway in particular had a great, believable flow to it. The acting was exceptional. All three actors were very natural. In particular, the lovemaking scene at the end was so relaxed and even paced like I have never seen in a movie before. At times you could almost feel as if you were inside the movie. The sound was great too. From the industrial growls during the start to the calm soothing music at the end, the music talked to you and set the mood excellently.

All in all, this movie was well made. You wont enjoy it, but you will be satisfied. You wont laugh, and you will cry. But if you can handle it, it will be an experience you might never get at a cinema theatre. And like it or hate it, you will never forget it.

Thursday, March 04, 2004

Just back from seeing the movie Irreversible. I'll post my thoughts on it once I have time to digest the movie. All I can say right now is that it's a very different kind of movie, and I'm still not over it yet.

Thursday, February 26, 2004

64% Feminine ?

Just took the gender identity test down at Emode. Here is the result -

Siddhi, you're 64% feminine

WTF?!!

Actually, on second thoughts, maybe thats not so surprising after all.

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Rorschach Test

Took the ink blot test over at Emode (thanks stale). This test is really good. Very very accurate, at least in my case.

Anyway, this is what it says -

Siddhi, your subconscious mind is driven most by Curiosity

This means you are full of questions about life, people, and the potential of your future. You spend more time than others envisioning the possibilities of your life — things that others are too afraid to consider.

Your curiosity burns with an almost physical need to know and do more. It's only through new experiences that you feel a greater understanding of yourself or the world — which ultimately is the greatest way for you to feel satisfied.

It is possible that the underlying reason for your drive towards curiosity is a deeply rooted fear of boredom. That means that you are probably more susceptible than others to feel like you're falling into a rut when life slows down into a comfortable routine.

You need to make sure you have stimulation in your life — that makes you feel like you're innovating or being exposed to the ideas and experiences that truly inspire you.

With such a strong orientation towards curiosity, you're also prone to a rebellious quality that shows up when you feel you are just going through the motions, and are unable to really influence the world around you. But interestingly enough, your drive towards novel experiences also indicates an openness others don't have, but wish they did.

Unconsciously, your curiosity presses you to learn more, experience more, and get the most out of life.


This is all so true, its absolutely scary.

Cheese

Yesterday went down to a neighbourhood shop to buy some New Zealand cheese. This stuff is interesting because you dont get these in your regular supermarket. They had a nice selection of cheeses. In the end, I bought about 160g of goats milk blue cheese. It has an interesting taste. Its slightly salty towards the center, but as you go towards the rind, the taste becomes less salty and stronger, probably influenced by the mold and the rind. It's similar to the other blue cheese that I've had in the past, but much more creamy, probably influenced by the goats milk. Nice combination.

I'm thinking of having some of this along with tea, as suggested in this article. Right now I'm thinking of having it with some earl gray tea that I have lying around, which should impart a flowery taste that should go well with the creaminess. I'm not sure if it will be strong enough for blue cheese. A better match might be a more bitter tea, but I dont have any with me right now.

Results of the experiment coming soon.