Movie Review: Death at the Funeral

IMDB: Death at the Funeral (2007)


British comedy at its satirical best. The seriousness of a man's death and his cremation is blown out of proportions and his sons are left to rue their bad luck at all the goof ups at their place.


If you are in a groggy mood or feeling awesome this movie is guaranteed to leave you in stitches. The subtle puns, the plot, the random 'mis'adventures of the family and guests create some memorable scenes in the movie.


A midget, hallucinogenic drugs, homosexuality, sibling rivalry, nudity, and a funeral all come together to deliver a riotous chaotic harmony . 
The films story unfolds in the span of an afternoon and despite the short duration of plot endears us to the characters with witty and realistic dialog. What better setting than a funeral to highlight the humor and irony of life?


My rating 7/10

Dan Brown: The Lost Symbol .... a short literary review

                                                     


After the stupendous success of Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown is back with his next novel: The Lost Symbol. Continue reading for a short review of this epic.

I picked it up from the nearby library last week (I am not a big fan of buying novels for $35 a piece :))  and completed it in 2 nights. Each of its 500 pages was equally riveting and I couldn't resist quickly turning the pages.

The story is set in Washington D.C. and follows Robert Langdon's crusade against Mala'kh's quest for the lost masonic symbol.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
The novel's protagonist once again saves the world, this time from an evil Mason named Mala'kh. The book revolves around the secret Masonic cult that is committed to maintain the balance of the world. They are the preservers of ancient wisdom, which leads to eternal life. The secret pyramid and the golden talisman protected by the Masons are sought after by Mala'kh who kills, maims, disguises and tricks anybody who comes in his way. Langdon's friend Peter Solomon and his sister Katherine Solomon are the other protagonists in this book. Katherine conducts research on Noetic science and was funded by her brother. As the story unfolds we learn that Mala'kh is actually Peter's son and was considered to be long dead. The tattoo of the phoenix on his body resembles his symbolic rise from the ashes, his return from near death and transformation into a perfect killing machine.
The story contains the usual Dan Brown codes, secrets, tunnels and a grand finale.
This book is a great read but fails to live up to the benchmark set by The Da Vinci Code.

WIKiPhone complete guide to unlocking iPhone OS 3.1.3

I own a 1st generation iPhone I bought nearly 3 years ago and it still runs awesome and have purchased 10 iPhones (3G/3GS) off eBay for many of my friends. My buddies proudly call me 'The Unofficial Apple Marketing executive'. Something to be really proud of eh ?

I'll outline below one of the most popular and easiest unlock + jailbreak of iPhone OS 3.1.3 (All generations):

Please note that this unlock will only work for 04.26.08 baseband. Anything above and you would need to wait until a few days after June 22. That's when OS 4.0 is slated to be released and by then the awesome hacking community should be ready with a working unlock of all bootrooms/basebands on OS 4.0 and below.

You can check your check your baseband (Modem Version) under Settings>General. In the below screenshot you can see the baseband is 2.28.00

Warning: Please stop here if your baseband is anything greater than 04.26.08. iPod Touch users can proceed below.

Download and install the latest version of iTunes from Apple

Step 1. Download sn0wbreeze here.

Step 2. Start Sn0wbreeze and select “Simple Mode”.

Step 3: Sn0wbreeze will now ask you to browse for your .ipsw file. Select the correct 3.1.3 firmware .ipsw file by clicking the “Browse” button. Sn0wbreeze will verify the selected file and then will present you with following screen.

Step 4: Click on "Yes" when Sn0wbreeze asks you “Do you want to activate your iPhone?” for hacktivation. Click on “No” only if you are on an officially supported carrier like AT&T.

Step 5: Sn0wbreeze will now create the custom .ipsw file for your iPhone which will be jailbroken.

Step 6: Now you will have to restore your iPhone to this custom firmware 3.1.3 that you just cooked using Sn0wbreeze for your iPhone. Click on your phone from the sidebar in iTunes and then press and hold left “Shift” button on the keyboard and then click on “Restore” (Not “Update” or “Check for Update”) button in the iTunes and then release the “Shift” button.

This will make iTunes prompt you to select the location for your custom firmware 3.1.3. Select that custom .ipsw file and click on “Open”.

Step 7: Now sit back and enjoy as iTunes does the rest for you. This will involve a series of automated steps. Be patient at this stage and don’t do anything silly. Just wait while iTunes installs the new firmware 3.1.3 on your iPhone. Your iPhone screen at this point will be showing a progress bar indicating installation progress. After the installation is done, iPhone will restart automatically and you should now have a fully jailbroken iPhone running on firmware 3.1.3.

Congrats!! Your iPhone/iPod Touch should be jailbroken now and you should be able to install any application.

2 Steps to unlock iPhone

Step 1

• Start “Cydia” on your iPhone.

• Touch on “Manage” tab on the bottom.

• Now touch on “Sources” as seen in the screenshot below:

• Touch on “Edit” and then on “Add”. You will be prompted to enter a url source as seen in the screenshot below. Type “http://blackra1n.com” and touch on “Add Source”.

Cydia will now automatically update your sources by following a series of automated steps.

• After installation is completed. Search for “blacksn0w” in Cydia and install this application. This app will automatically unlock your iPhone so that you can use it with any carrier.

Step 2: Now simply restart your iPhone. Voila! You are now running a fully unlocked and jailbroken iPhone on firmware 3.1.3 on your iPhone 3G or 3GS.

More info and source can be found at http://www.redmondpie.com/unlock-iphone-3.1.3-3g-3gs-with-blacksn0w/

Enjoy the uber techie's fantasy now.

Reviews of a few Domestic and International Air carriers I have flown in

This list is based on the chronological order that I have flown :

1. Jet Airways (Indian domestic carrier) 1995,1997, 2001, 2007

Pros: The numero uno carrier in India. Awesome cabin service, courteous and pretty air hostesses, good food and on time performance.

Cons: Fares on the higher end. Rs. 6400 for an economy seat between Mumbai and Kochi as compared to Rs. 4300 on GoAir airlines.

2. Damania Airlines (Indian domestic carrier) 1996

I really don't remember much of this airlines, it was taken over by some other company.

3. East West Airlines (Indian domestic carrier) 1996

Pros: I can only remember the great food and snacks they used to serve.

Sadly, this airline is also now defunct.

4. Air India (International airlines) 2008, 2009

Pros: Great food, cheap fares

Cons: Rude and old air hostesses, poor cabin service.

5. Air India Express (domestic wing of Air India)2005, 2006

Pros: Convenient flight timings, new destinations, cheap fares

Cons: Can't think of any

6. GoAir (Indian domestic carrier) 2005, 2008, 2009

Pros: Cheap fares, Convenient flight timings

Cons: Not a very good record in scheduled departures/arrivals.

7. Deccan Airways (Indian domestic carrier) 2006

Pros: Used to be the cheapest carrier on the planet

Cons: The cheapness shows in the public bus like atmosphere inside the cabin

8. Kingfisher Airlines (Indian domestic carrier)

Haven't ever flown on Kingfisher but going by my wife's and dad's reviews... it is a great carrier. You may have noticed the funky red clip on earphones that people take away.

9. Delta Airlines (International Airlines) 2007

Pros: Non-Stop Mumbai to JFK, cheap air fares

Cons: Bad food, taller occupants like me have very little leg room.

10. British Airways (International Airlines) 2008

Pros: Taller occupants have 2 inches more legroom than on Delta

Cons: Food on the UK to US sector is not palatable per Indian standards.

11. Cathay Pacific (International Airlines) 2009

Pros: Great cabin service, good choice of food and entertainment

Cons: Has very limited access to Europe and US East Coast

12. Al Etihad (International Airlines) 2009

Pros: Budget airlines

Cons: Halts at Abu Dhabi airport which should rank as the worst International airport in the world

13. American Airlines (American domestic carrier) 2007

A no hassle point to point US domestic carrier.

14. US Airways (American domestic carrier) 2008

Another point to point US domestic carrier who first introduced the concept of paid carry on luggages.

Well, did you notice that midway through the list I skipped the chronology I was talking about :))

nVidia vs. ATI : A casual gamer’s perspective spread over a decade

Let me clear this up front: I am a BIG nVidia fan boy. However I have nothing against ATI and I believe they currently have the edge in the graphics card wars.

nVidia’s Fermi based GeForce 480GTX is the fastest single GPU card out there today but it has to look up to ATI Radeon 5970 which is the fastest dual GPU setup in the market. If I had $600 to spend I would be certainly going for the 5970 in my rig. It is the fastest graphics card in the world now and seems a better return of investment than the $500 480GTX. The 5970 beats the sh!t out of all other cards out there and tops every gaming benchmark with a huge margin.

At the moment ATI is basking in all the glory it could ever imagine. nVidia’s Fermi architecture seems to be a very good move by the company however it still is in its nascent stage and it should only get better down the line.

My first ever discrete graphics card was a nVidia Riva TNT2 32MB (still remember that?) on my Pentium 3 that I purchased in year 2000. Quake 3, Unreal, GTA 3 used to be the primary games on my PC and the card handled all these pretty well. Aahhh! It was heaven until Spiderman for PC and No One Lives Forever 2 came out. These games required Hardware Transform & Lighting support on the graphics card and my poor Riva TNT2 had none of it. I then upgraded to “THE” nVidia GeForce 2 GT 64MB. I was back in heaven again and sailed through all the games out there including the leaked demo of Doom 3 in 2002.

In 2003 Need for Speed underground came out with some awesome graphics for the day. It needed pixel and vertex shader support on the graphics card for this awesomeness. Time to upgrade again: This time I bought my 3rd nVidia card in the form of the abysmal GeForce 5200 128 MB (I was in college and on a budget). Theoretically it was a fully fledged DirectX 9 chip but practically it was a pathetic excuse of a card and I had to persist with it for another year. Doom 3, Half Life 2, Unreal Tournament 2003/4 , NFS U2 were all butter smooth at medium settings.

F.E.A.R. came out in 2005 and my rig couldn’t handle it anymore and lost its battle for survival. All this time ATI was steadily chipping away nVidia’s market share and an ATI Radeon 9700 was THE card to have. Doom 3 had a solid backing from nVidia while Half Life 2 was supported by ATI. At this time ATI held the graphics card crown for the first time ever. I purchased a ATI Radeon 9700 128MB from an OEM for an awesome deal. This card was GOD. I could now play anything: F.E.A.R (the Crysis of 2005) was heavenly at the highest settings. My first ATI had made me very happy.

In 2007 nVidia trumped ATI and came out with the first DirectX 10 card. The GeForce 8800 was the beast that nobody could have even thought of. It had around 3 times the processing power of the nearest competing ATI product. The days of ATI were numbered and nVidia enjoyed this supremacy for a couple of years. Their performance level card , the GeForce8600 GT, was the most popular and it has been in my gaming laptop for nearly 3 years now. It’s played every game I have thrown at it at high settings (Yes, Crysis included). nVidia had me there.

Last week I installed Metro 2033 on my laptop and for the first sign my 8600 was showing some signs of aging. Looks like it was trying to tell me that it can no longer hold its sway against the current big boys and it’s time to move on. I am going to get a new rig and this time I am going to join the ATI bandwagon again while still being an nVidia fan boy. Does all this sound like a Lakers fan rooting for LeBron James?

Who's gonna win this IPL 2010?

It's crunch time for 5 teams now. Barring Mumbai Indians who have already qualified to the semis and hopeless SRK's and Preity's teams its a desperate fight for the last 3 semi final spots.

RC Bangalore should easily make it to the top 4 with the awesome victory over Rajasthan Royals today.
Rajasthan should in probability finish in the bottom 4 now.
Delhi who began their campaign so well are on the brink of not making it to the top 4 for the 1st time in IPL.
Chennai have just begun peaking at the right time and look certain for a semi final spot.
Deccan Chargers should have it easy unless Punjab have other plans for them.

I am putting my money on RC Bangalore to take home the IPL crown this year.
What say guys.Whom do you support??

The three possibilities to everything

The past,the present and the future. The black, the white and the gray. The good, the average and the bad. The solid state, the liquid state and the gaseous state. The birth, the after life and the life in between.

Has it ever struck you that basically everything you see around yourself can be categorically placed into any of the three below :

1) Positive

2) Negative

3) Neutral

Consider some examples:

1) Time can only be either of the present , the past and the future. Class divisions are an individual's perspective (being a Cancerian I tend to put everything into the positive class:)))

2) You either love somebody so deeply , or hate somebody like hell or are neutral to most of the folks in your life.

3) The food you eat may most of the time taste the same, taste really good or on rare occasions taste like sh!t.

4) The uber rich can be categorized into the positive class (or negative, depending upon your perspective), the middle class into the neutral and finally the poor into the negative class (or positive if your perspective is otherwise)

I can state many other examples that I feel confirm to my theory of 'The three possibilities to everything'.

Hell even fuzzy logic was developed to accommodative the third state between the binary ones and zeros.

Human limits know no bounds and its up to the remarkable brain to process the details and subconsciously categorize everything into the three possibilities I stated above.

I already watched "3 Idiots" three times: wanted more of Chatur's college auditorium speech scene :)

764 days later..

2 years, 1 month later.. here I am, happily typing away my 2nd ever blog. In between life has taught many a lesson, added on a few pounds at the wrong places, circled the globe nearly 4 times over, created lasting friendships, became an uncle, bought a house, a couple of cars, met with an accident on a Los Angeles freeway, bought 10 iPhones....

Well life has been going at 200 miles per hour and sometimes, I feel , on the wrong lane.

I know its late by today's standards to start blogging again but as some wise guy put it: "Better late than never!" :))

Stay tuned for some infotainment on this site.

Coming soon: My "Three possibilities to everything" theory