Two links which I feel like sharing:
1. First is the near (or not so near) future for mankind. Space commercialization! Business Insider is
running an article on it here.
Some interesting facts from the article:
a. Man may get his first trillionaire.
b.
The cost of fuel as a percentage of a space flight is only 1%. The bulk of the cost is labor.
c. Read the points about "Ownership of space" and that is the point you may find things interesting or well, interesting :D
2. More serious stuff. Prof. Jayanth Varma has written one of the finest papers on financial teaching by management institutes. The reasoning with that of how markets and prices behave during and around crises is worth reading.
Here is the link to Vikalpa and his paper in it.It is a exhaustive paper, so keep some time for reading the same.
It has been a while since I wrote a post of which I have been long thinking. In general, 2011 year has been an ok considering the pluses and minuses each year has.
Year 2012 was welcomed with the usual frenzy. Some newspapers said that many people preferred to stay home and indoors instead of partying hard on 31st night. That is strange considering the lovely cold that Mumbai is experiencing. But it is perfectly understandable considering that the same cold is quite harsh in the north.
So how was your celebration at the turn of the year? Party or ghar pe TV ke saamne? Not that the TV had much to offer. I apologize in advance but I cannot resist pasting this excerpt from
one of my earlier posts :
"Well, these days the TV does not stop, the viewer has to muster the
courage to go to the power off button. These days there is no need of
news wrap because you have been fed the same news 24x7 till you have
learnt it to the last headline and you no longer wait for that 5 minute
magic from Jaaved Jaffrey because there are like a million copies doing
rounds on 50 channels."
Nevertheless, the year had its share of headlines - the anti-corruption headlines from our nation, the Arab spring headlines, the Japanese earthquake and the tragedy thereafter, the British royal wedding, the famous Indian World Cup victory and the Euro zone fiasco.
For me, in 2011, I read one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read on general science -
Bill Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything. I have since been recommending it to anyone who has been showing a slightest interest in science.
So here we come to the close of this post. It was just a general chit-chat on the year that went by.
What am I looking forward to: Seeing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. One of the finest spy novels I have read as well as one of the finest mini-series I have seen ever. It would be interesting to see how Gary Oldman compares to Sir Alec Guinness. Having missed the movie in the cinemas, I now await its DVD release...
Ethan Hunt is moving towards pre-Daniel Craig era James Bond while Bond, these days, is getting more and more intense, much like Hunt of the first MI.
This fourth episode of MI is a perfect Hollywood masala movie that has some spectacular action scenes, unbelievably cheesy lines, humour sprinkled in generous amounts throughout the movie and great effects. Story line, script...well these have been adapted well with above objectives perfectly aligned! Honestly, when you see the movie you don't care!
The movie begins with a typical mission going wrong. Hunt is then summoned from a Russian jail to find what was lost in the mission. To put it lightly and concisely, Hunt and his team does that with panache.
The hunt for the lost package takes them from Russia to Dubai to India. They enter break a jail, get into Kremlin, their car drowns in a river, Hunt climbs the highest building in the world and so on. Each of the sequences is a classy piece of adrenaline pumping action. Do not miss the Burj-Khalifah stunt - it is spectacular. I have heard that Cruise has executed it himself. If true, congratulations to him for a super stunt!
Tom Cruise is excellent in this edition. So is his team. Especially Simon Pegg with his wonderful one-liners. As an Indian viewer, I wanted to see Anil Kapoor's contribution to MI. He is alright as a lecherous billionaire but there is nothing more to his role.
This part is fantastic. Don't miss it and during the movie or after it refrain from asking too many how and why kind of questions!
3.5 *s out of 4!
Trailer of MI4:
The brilliance of Deool lies in the direction,brilliant dialogues delivered with panache and superlative acting. Actually nothing is amiss in this movie. No weak links at all.
Marathi cinema is moving ahead and brilliantly. There is a line in Deool where Dilip Prabhavalkar speaks out his dilemma about faith and modern belief. That is the gist of this movie. Where do we draw the line?
The first half is brilliant background building of the small village or खेडं and its people. There is a leader, a wise man, a simpleton, their wives, their mothers, mother in laws and so many others who create a beautiful village.
A simpleton Keshav's viewing of incarnation (or is it a dream or an illusion) turns the village upside down.
While Keshav is steadfast in his faith, the rest of the village loses it for this sole chance of turning their village into a rich religious place! It is easy for me to state in a single line what the story is about, but it is the cast that creates the magic on the screen.
Nana Patekar and Sonali Kulkarni are brilliant as the chief couple of the village. Dilip Prabhavalkar as Anna is subtle and gentle in speaking the truth. But the movie belongs to Girish Kulkarni as Keshav. The subtle message is unmistakable.
The technicals of the movie are also amazing, the photography is magical. A small serene village where the moonlight is bright, the scene is magnificent.
Go see the movie right away. If possible go to the closest cinema. Do not miss this movie.
Trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfzctPCpb2A
One of the finest science books I have ever read!
I began this book to take a break from my usual thriller or management books. This was recommended to me by one of my cousins. Never did I think this would be such a pleasure to read!
From the beginning of the book to the end, Bryson keeps us engaged, interested and fascinated in this journey from the birth of Universe to today.
My recommendation, read this and let every child and student, with slightest interest in Geography, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy and even Mathematics, read this book.
http://www.billbryson.co.uk/books_shorthistory.html
What a high class way of generating interest in topics otherwise clogged with formulae that don't get inside your head or postulates about which you keep wondering...how the hell did scientist xyz think of this!
It is a one book wonder!
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All the opinions expressed are of the author only. Any action taken by readers on the basis of this blog is entirely at the readers' risk and they are solely responsible for the same.
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