Saturday, August 25, 2007

Mascarenhas and Orkut Beta


Quickly came in to shout two things:

1. India vs England match ended just now.. During the match, it looked like India would make a comfortable win..But THE man - Dinitri Mascarenhas was obscenely throwing 6 sixes shattering the concrete hopes!!! And one four, all in the last few overs..Spicing it, partner batsman Stuart registered a couple of fours and a six. As expected India won, not with a great margin though, which should have been the case, but by 10 runs. Anyways I am happy for England's Mascarenhas; he made first half century in ODI, under tremendous pressure. He has shown to the world his ability. Pats!!!

2. Just now I opened orkut and within few minutes when I refreshed, the looks and some of its features changed. Then noticed the Orkut Beta Label in the top left... Again I refreshed..It went to the old style..Again refreshed..Beta version appeared.. Finally, its all Beta now.. Looks cool ;) Much like facebook... Catch more news here to know the new cool look!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Indian Idol 3

I've been hooked to this popular TV show for quite sometime. I must admit it has become an integral part of my schedule, all my thursdays, fridays and saturdays dont go with out it. Me and my roomies religiously watch this program without missing even a micro second. Indian Idol 3 - We totally love it baby! Watching the contestants on this reality show gives us the inexplicable vicarious feelings of actually being there. And every week when one gets eliminated, we feel extremely bad for them.


Indian Idol is developed on the same lines of popular US TV show American Idol. For the select few who need gyan about this show, go thru this. Among the top 12 finalists now (this time 13 though, because of a carried over contestant), a series of 'Gala' rounds go where the contestants need to show their versatility, vocal skills and performance. Every week one contestant is voted out based on audience sms voting. There are judges - Anu Malik, Javed Akhtar, Alisha Chinai and Udit Narayanan, who give their comments, which tend influence the audience in sms'ing their votes; nevertheless, it is THE audience which decides the verdict. Again personally I feel the audience voting is certainly not a representative of the skill/talent of the contestant. There are groupisms, favoritism and 'fan' isms, which could be an altered indicative of the voting pattern.


So far, till the end of Gala 7, 6 contestants have managed to sail through - Amit, Ankita, Chang, Puja, Prashant and Emon. The results of gala 7 saw the exit of yet another potential Indian Idol - Deepali. Like many others, I too was totally disappointed to the core after Deepali got eliminated. In fact, we at first were determined like not to watch the show again! Despite her sterling performances (dhol bajne laga.., nimboda nimboda.., mera piya ghar aaya), she was voted out! My respect for her increased multifold, when she boldly accepted without breaking down.And now after Deepali and Charu's exit, the deserving girls are out!


I think Puja and Ankita both didnt do well during gala 7. Moreover Camera guys were wierdly showing Ankita smiling again and again during results round,may be to increase their TRP, which now could hurt her votes! Despite her occasional flat singing , Anky baby is a lively performer, the favorite of all and even Anu - sure a top 3 material!

Prashant: He is good but seldom comes in bottom 3. Favoritism? But one thing to admit, during gala 7, prashant was amazing with the sarfarosh song..Emon and Chang are good, no doubt. Emon has great voice like Sonu Nigam. Personally my choice for Indian Idol is Amit Paul. He is amazing with melliflous voice and versatility. May he deserve it :)

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Sony W850i


Athu appo, Idhu ippo (Translation: Thats then, this' now!)

Finally, after months of contemplation, I've migrated my phone connection from Prepay to a Pay monthly with O2 service provider. it was a necessary evil considering the reality that I lost hundreds of £ with Prepay credits so far :(
And now I got to choose a 'free' phone [1] with the new contract. I have taken a cool precious black color Sony W850i walkman series phone, presumably as it would entertain and keep me 'busy' in my commute to office and back home. And it has cool features as well :) Though Camera in W850i isn't that great.

I bought this phone on August 4 and my first attempt to make a call was to my lovely 3-year old niece, Tanya for a special reson. It was her birthday then and I wished her. And yeo, it was cho chweet hearing her voice. Operation Innaugration Call success!!!

Footnote:
[1] A 'free' phone, in real terms, is not a free one! Have you heard of 'Free lunch' in business?
All the costs are absorbed in the monthly bills ;)