The latest book I have read is The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks. It is very obvious that it is a pseudonym and what a weird one at that!
It seemed to be a broad cross of The Matrix (with Keanu Reeves), where everything is an illusion and The One (with Jet Li) where there are multiple parallel universes (Realms as per JTH)!
The book was interesting in parts and extremely inane in others… The characters are not well developed though the only character I really liked was Maya because of her human frailty – if you will! Maya was an interesting name to choose considering that she is half Indian (her mother is Sikh) and Maya in Sanskrit/Hindi means illusion – which is what the author was propounding – what we see all around is nothing but an illusion, which is something that Hindu mythology has been saying for centuries!
The theme of the movie was Governments controlling the general population through Fear and this is such a beaten theme – I thought Michael Crichton did a far better job in “The State of Fear” and of course “1984” written way back in 1949 by George Orwell.
There are way too many organizations such as the Harlequins, Tabula, Brethren and none of them have been properly introduced – In a way, JTH is been a complete anti-thesis to Arthur Hailey who I have always felt, loses the plot because of the way he introduces his characters – he gets so detailed that you need to go back to figure out where you are in the story!
All in all – a very average book.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Kathy Sierra and misuse of the Democracy on the Internet
I am new to blogging and have begun to enjoy it a lot! It is indeed a whole new experience and the sheer freedom it lets us enjoy is huge!
It is indeed extremely sad commentary that Kathy Sierra is getting targeted for being a woman blogger and for expressing her personal views. Internet was supposed to be the new frontier for true democracy without the policing!
While the freedom is absolutely awesome, there needs to be personal policing – everyone has the right to air their comments – after all it is a free space – but there has to be some restraint to what they are saying. Agree that we cannot, as humans, like everybody or agree with their opinions, but death threats, cyber stalking against them should be stopped. This is misusing the freedom that we bloggers have.
I am against policing this wonderful medium called internet which gives us the right to rant – but this is going too far. Free blogs such as Blogger, Wordpress et cetera should not condone this kind of stuff and pull their websites off the internet as soon as they receive some complaint against a few bloggers. While the rest of the more experienced people who have their own blog websites – the servers hosting them should ask them to go take a hike!
It is against the law to post death threats – the medium of posting should not matter – whether it is the web or the phone – it is against the law.
I feel for Kathy and while a witch hunt is not going to stop this, and while I accept that censorship is not the right way, is there any other way of stopping this?
It is indeed extremely sad commentary that Kathy Sierra is getting targeted for being a woman blogger and for expressing her personal views. Internet was supposed to be the new frontier for true democracy without the policing!
While the freedom is absolutely awesome, there needs to be personal policing – everyone has the right to air their comments – after all it is a free space – but there has to be some restraint to what they are saying. Agree that we cannot, as humans, like everybody or agree with their opinions, but death threats, cyber stalking against them should be stopped. This is misusing the freedom that we bloggers have.
I am against policing this wonderful medium called internet which gives us the right to rant – but this is going too far. Free blogs such as Blogger, Wordpress et cetera should not condone this kind of stuff and pull their websites off the internet as soon as they receive some complaint against a few bloggers. While the rest of the more experienced people who have their own blog websites – the servers hosting them should ask them to go take a hike!
It is against the law to post death threats – the medium of posting should not matter – whether it is the web or the phone – it is against the law.
I feel for Kathy and while a witch hunt is not going to stop this, and while I accept that censorship is not the right way, is there any other way of stopping this?
Monday, March 26, 2007
Mediocrity and Indians
So we Indians did not qualify for the Super Eight stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup!
At the risk of committing sacrilege, we are a bunch of people who thrive on mediocrity. How else can we explain the fact that for a billion people, we do not excel in any thing? We do not have a single product for the size of our country – Look at South Korea – you have the LGs, Samsungs, Hyundais and even Finland has a Nokia! What product do we have – Nothing, nada, zilch!
The country has some great institutes, IITs, IIMs etc – Everyone who studies at these elite institutes are looking at options outside the country! Yes, in recent times, we have seen some people return, this is not happening because of the policies, but in spite of them!
We have sports facilities that are completely out of sync with the rest of the world! When I talk to friends about this dismal state of affairs – all everyone has to say is that we are not physically built for sports such as Football! This is but a bunch of horse manure! Look at Hockey – once upon a time we were the world champions but we have faltered in the last 20 years! The main problem is the fact that there is so much money in sports, despite what people say, is that politicians look at getting into the sports as administrators and eat the money! When politicians get into sports – what else do you expect?
Let me give you a simple example – In Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, there is a bridge being built in front of out offices – The bridge is built, however not tarred – The contractor says that the total cost of building it is 2.5 crores and he has got a payment of only 1.5 crores with the politicians eating the rest! The result – the bridge is half done with no hope of ever completing it!
We are a country where mediocrity is so acceptable that it has become a way of life! The only area where we have actually excelled is in the IT industry.
At the risk of committing sacrilege, we are a bunch of people who thrive on mediocrity. How else can we explain the fact that for a billion people, we do not excel in any thing? We do not have a single product for the size of our country – Look at South Korea – you have the LGs, Samsungs, Hyundais and even Finland has a Nokia! What product do we have – Nothing, nada, zilch!
The country has some great institutes, IITs, IIMs etc – Everyone who studies at these elite institutes are looking at options outside the country! Yes, in recent times, we have seen some people return, this is not happening because of the policies, but in spite of them!
We have sports facilities that are completely out of sync with the rest of the world! When I talk to friends about this dismal state of affairs – all everyone has to say is that we are not physically built for sports such as Football! This is but a bunch of horse manure! Look at Hockey – once upon a time we were the world champions but we have faltered in the last 20 years! The main problem is the fact that there is so much money in sports, despite what people say, is that politicians look at getting into the sports as administrators and eat the money! When politicians get into sports – what else do you expect?
Let me give you a simple example – In Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, there is a bridge being built in front of out offices – The bridge is built, however not tarred – The contractor says that the total cost of building it is 2.5 crores and he has got a payment of only 1.5 crores with the politicians eating the rest! The result – the bridge is half done with no hope of ever completing it!
We are a country where mediocrity is so acceptable that it has become a way of life! The only area where we have actually excelled is in the IT industry.
Sanjaya Malakar and the increasing influence of Indians in America
Sanjaya typifies the influence of Indians or people of Indian descent in America! What can I say – there have been people who can sing better than him who are already out of the show and the Sanjaya juggernaut continues unabated!
Whether this is because of Howard Stein or because of the influence of the Indian American community can be debated! We Indians tend to live within a community – whether that is dominated by language, caste or religion, when in India and when abroad as Indians – pure and simple. It goes on to show that Indians are really well connected never mind Howard Steins mission of sabotaging the American Idol show. The premise of the show is that people vote for who they perceive as the best – if that is the case, whether Simon Howell likes it or not, Sanjaya will be in, until voters are sick of him and/or his singing!
This has been so much fun – unlike a similar reality show in the UK, Celebrity Big Brother, which got derailed because of racial undertones! As far as I can see there are no racial undertones, but because voters are unwilling to vote Sanjaya off the show, he continues to thrive!
Live on and rock on Sanjaya!
Whether this is because of Howard Stein or because of the influence of the Indian American community can be debated! We Indians tend to live within a community – whether that is dominated by language, caste or religion, when in India and when abroad as Indians – pure and simple. It goes on to show that Indians are really well connected never mind Howard Steins mission of sabotaging the American Idol show. The premise of the show is that people vote for who they perceive as the best – if that is the case, whether Simon Howell likes it or not, Sanjaya will be in, until voters are sick of him and/or his singing!
This has been so much fun – unlike a similar reality show in the UK, Celebrity Big Brother, which got derailed because of racial undertones! As far as I can see there are no racial undertones, but because voters are unwilling to vote Sanjaya off the show, he continues to thrive!
Live on and rock on Sanjaya!
Monday, March 19, 2007
300 - Just a movie!
I haven’t yet seen the movie – so it is going to be premature to respond to the all the hoopla surrounding it.
What is the issue with 300?
The one issue that the Iranians see currently is that it is historically wrong – well, Warner Brothers has already issued a statement that it is work of fiction. So if it does not show the right historical facts – Chill guys!
Secondly – they claim that it has a hidden agenda – well, what can I say? I agree that the Americans have been reckless with the fact that they are the sole super power and they are pushing their agenda everywhere in the world – but come on – I don’t think they are sending out any messages through a movie for God’s sake! I know and accept the fact that America is mostly run by Jews (and I don’t mean this in a derogatory manner at all – matter of fact!) – Wall Street and Hollywood are both dominated by them, all said and done they are really good business people – Frankly I really do NOT think that the Americans have enough in them to open up another front with Iran (considering the fact that Iraq is open and Afghanistan is open and of course the whole shebang with Osama Bin Laden) in a battle ground – if they do – they are not only stupid, but they will have failed to learn the lessons of history – remember what happened with Hitler in Russia (erstwhile USSR) – not enough resources and it was plain stupid! Also remember, the whole world will turn against them if they do and they already have too much going against them!
So my suggestion is enjoy the whole movie and its special effects and let life move on – we have too many things to worry in life and a movie should be the least of our priorities!
What is the issue with 300?
The one issue that the Iranians see currently is that it is historically wrong – well, Warner Brothers has already issued a statement that it is work of fiction. So if it does not show the right historical facts – Chill guys!
Secondly – they claim that it has a hidden agenda – well, what can I say? I agree that the Americans have been reckless with the fact that they are the sole super power and they are pushing their agenda everywhere in the world – but come on – I don’t think they are sending out any messages through a movie for God’s sake! I know and accept the fact that America is mostly run by Jews (and I don’t mean this in a derogatory manner at all – matter of fact!) – Wall Street and Hollywood are both dominated by them, all said and done they are really good business people – Frankly I really do NOT think that the Americans have enough in them to open up another front with Iran (considering the fact that Iraq is open and Afghanistan is open and of course the whole shebang with Osama Bin Laden) in a battle ground – if they do – they are not only stupid, but they will have failed to learn the lessons of history – remember what happened with Hitler in Russia (erstwhile USSR) – not enough resources and it was plain stupid! Also remember, the whole world will turn against them if they do and they already have too much going against them!
So my suggestion is enjoy the whole movie and its special effects and let life move on – we have too many things to worry in life and a movie should be the least of our priorities!
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