Wish you all many moments of celebration in 2011.
Happy New Year!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Need You Now by Lady Antebellum
Picture perfect memories scattered all around the floor
Reaching for the phone 'cause I can't fight it anymore
And I wonder if I ever cross your mind?
For me it happens all the time
It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now
Said I wouldn't call but I lost all control and I need you now
And I don't know how I can do without, I just need you now
Another shot of whiskey can't stop looking at the door
Wishing you'd come sweeping in the way you did before
And I wonder if I ever cross your mind???
For me it happens all the time
It's a quarter after one I'm a little drunk and I need you now
Said I wouldn't call but I lost all control and I need you now
And I don't know how I can do without I just need you now
Guess I'd rather hurt than feel nothing at all
It's a quarter after one I'm all alone and I need you now
And I said I wouldn't call but I'm a little drunk and I need you now
And I don't know how I can do without I just need you now
I just need you now
Oh baby I need you now.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
FW: Why you should never ask favors from GRAPHICS DESIGNERS
Story goes :
Shannon (the secretary) has lost her cat and has asked David (the graphic designer) to help with a lost poster. This is their email correspondence...
Read from top to bottom….
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.15am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Poster
Hi
I opened the screen door yesterday and my cat got out and has been missing since then so I was wondering if you are not to busy you could make a poster for me. It has to be A4 and I will photocopy it and put it around my suburb this afternoon.
This is the only photo of her I have she answers to the name Missy and is black and white and about 8 months old. missing on Harper street and my phone number.
Thanks Shan.
From:David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.26am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Poster
Dear Shannon,
That is shocking news.
Although I have two clients expecting completed work this afternoon, I will, of course, drop everything and do whatever it takes to facilitate the speedy return of Missy.
Regards, David.
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.37am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Poster
yeah ok thanks. I know you dont like cats but I am really worried about mine. I have to leave at 1pm today.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.17am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Poster
Dear Shannon,
I never said I don't like cats. Attached poster as requested.
Regards, David.
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.24am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster
yeah thats not what I was looking for at all. it looks like a movie and how come the photo of Missy is so small?
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.28am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster
Dear Shannon,
It's a design thing. The cat is lost in the negative space.
Regards, David.
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.33am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster
Thats just stupid. Can you do it properly please? I am extremely emotional over this and was up all night in tears. you seem to think it is funny. Can you make the photo bigger please and fix the text and do it in colour please. Thanks.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.46am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster
Dear Shannon,
Having worked with designers for a few years now, I would have assumed you understood, despite our vague suggestions otherwise, we do not welcome constructive criticism. I don't come downstairs and tell you how to send text messages, log onto Facebook and look out of the window. I have amended and attached the poster as per your instructions.
Regards, David.
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.59am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster
This is worse than the other one. can you make it so it shows the whole photo of Missy and delete the stupid text that says missing missy off it? I just want it to say Lost.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.14am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.21am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster
yeah can you do the poster or not? I just want a photo and the word lost and the telephone number and when and where she was lost and her name. Not like a movie poster or anything stupid. I have to leave early today. If it was your cat I would help you. Thanks.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.32am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Awww
Dear Shannon,
I don't have a cat. I once agreed to look after a friend's cat for a week but after he dropped it off at my apartment and explained the concept of kitty litter. I have attached the amended version of your poster as per your detailed instructions.
Regards, David.
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.47am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Awww
Thats not my cat. where did you get that picture from? That cat is orange. I gave you a photo of my cat.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.58am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Awww
I know, but that one is cute. As Missy has quite possibly met any one of several violent ends, it is possible you might get a better cat out of this. If anybody calls and says "I haven't seen your orange cat but I did find a black and white one with its hind legs run over by a car, do you want it?" you can politely decline and save yourself a costly veterinarian bill.
Regards, David.
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.07pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Awww
Please just use the photo I gave you.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.22pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.34pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww
I didnt say there was a reward. I dont have $2000 dollars. What did you even put that there for? Apart from that it is perfect can you please remove the reward bit. Thanks Shan.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.42pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.51pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww
Can you just please take the reward bit off altogether? I have to leave in ten minutes and I still have to make photocopies of it.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.56pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 1.03pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww
Fine. That will have to do.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Fighting India Ishtyle
| HOW TO IDENTIFY DIFFERENT PLACES IN INDIA FROM THE FIGHTING STYLES!
|
Racunculus (Persian Buttercup)
Learned the name for a beautiful flower today! They look like luxurious blowsy roses and come in stunning colours.
Introducing Racunculus, or Persian Buttercup.
Learn more here: http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Persian%20Buttercup.html
They call me....
In Josef Skvorecky's THE ENGINEER OF HUMAN SOULS (narrated by a writer/literature professor in Toronto):
1. A student in a literature class compares the introductory sentences in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" (My name is Arthur Gordon Pym") with that of MOBY DICK by Herman Melville ("Call me Ishmael") and finds them the same.
2. A student fabricates a school paper she entitles "The Function of Colour in Nathaniel Hawthorne's THE SCARLET LETTER."
3. Surrounded by his students, the literature professor compares himself to "Gulliver among the breasts of the Brobdingnagian women." (GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, Jonathan Swift).
4. He asks another student if she has read James Bond (CASINO ROYALE, Ian Fleming).
5. A character, telling the story of his father who was wounded during the war, says he once "assumed the role of Svejk, that most classic of all Czech military heroes" (THE GOOD SOLDIER SVEJK, Jaroslav Hasek).
6. Another character says some people think that people in Czechoslovakia under communist rule "live in a hell akin to that described by Father Arnall in A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN" (James Joyce).
7. A character says she felt "a bit like ALICE IN WONDERLAND" (Lewis Carroll).
8. The book's third chapter, entitled "TWAIN", centers on Mark Twain's THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN.
9. A husband says his wife was like CHARLES DICKENS because "books are her children."
10. The professor recalls students telling him that 1984 (NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR, George Orwell) was a satire on America.
11. Conversing with a female student, who became his lover, the professor says in one scene that he is not thinking about ULYSSES (James Joyce) because his "thoughts don't follow in the channels of classical myth."
12. One student of his says that HEART OF DARKNESS (Joseph Conrad) is "a social critique of European imperialism," another says it "is above all about a journey into the centre of a soul."
13. Looking at a student who is a son of a Neapolitan labourer, he thinks that this student will never understand even UNCLE TOM'S CABIN (Harriet Beecher Stowe).
14. A letter-writer, describing what someone did, narrates that the latter "raises his arms to the moon like GREAT GATSBY (F.Scott Fitzgerald), but instead of addressing the moon, he addresses Comrade Stalin."
15. Discussing central passages of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the professor says these "are teeming with evocative images (and) in places they become Boschean or surrealistic caricatures, not too far removed from the more recent evocations in (Alexandr) Solzhenitsyn's THE FIRST CIRCLE.
16. In another lecture, the professor says ""(William) Faulkner's description in the seventh chapter of ABSALOM, ABSALOM! is a pretty fair Marxist analysis of the origin of class hatred (and that) it's an excellent account of racism in class antagonism."
16.17. Vladimir Nabokov's LOLITA and Henry Miller's TROPIC OF CANCER were also mentioned as well as list authors RAYMOND CHANDLER, FRANZ KAFKA, MILAN KUNDERA, P.G. WODEHOUSE, JEAN-PAUL SARTRE, EVELYN WAUGH and ERNEST HEMINGWAY.
17. The final chapter (the 7th) is entitled "LOVECRAFT" and central to it is H.P. Lovecraft's AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. The professor says "Lovecraft didn't have a great range of fantasy, but what he had was intense. It was more like an obsession than a fantasy. Like all prophets."
18. The book has seven chapters carrying the names of authors--all of them list authors except the one in Chapter 4: Stephen Crane and his The Red Badge of Courage.
Post Credit: Joselito, Goodreads’ Discussion Stream “1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die”
Photo Credit: tempe.gov website
Monday, December 27, 2010
Season of sharing and caring
Bring a smile to someone’s face today!
What can be more enjoyable than to give something of yourself and get back much more in return?
What a great bargain!
Share something small and get back loads of goodwill in return! :-D
Check out http://www.giveindia.org or contact a local NGO for more details.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Check out this amazing blog where Adele Enersen, a mother and bored photographer on maternity leave, creates dream worlds around her sleeping baby Mila!
http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/
Photo Credit: Adele Enersen
Friday, December 24, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Secret Santa Diaries
Playing Secret Santa is fun…
Knowing how much someone enjoys your gifts (in my case, I am sending IOUs to my "Angel" since I am not physically present at the location) gives you such a warm feeling deep inside.
The best part is that the Angel does not know who you are or where you're from – so the happiness, one can hope, is from genuine pleasure rather than any obligation to be polite.
Let me share part of a conversation my Angel's friend forwarded to me (yes! Secret Santa needs all the helpers she can get!!) and you'll see what I mean!
Angel[3:08 PM]:
I got another IOU from my Santa
this time a teddy
Santa's Helper[3:08 PM]:
via ***?
vow
Angel[3:08 PM]:
nobody gave me a teddy before...I'm so happy whenever i get it
no...from "Santa's other friend"
Santa's Helper[3:09 PM]:
awesome
k...
Angel[3:10 PM]:
the last time i got a teddy was from dad when i was a small kid.....after that I never got any teddy in my life from anyone!!!...just imagine!!
I love my santa
Santa's Helper[3:10 PM]:
OMG! really?
Angel[3:10 PM]:
yes babes
Santa's Helper[3:10 PM]:
dats so nice
Angel[3:10 PM]:
ya...i already love my santa
Santa's Helper[3:11 PM]:
mujhe bachpan me kabhi nahi mila bt i got it aftr i grew up...whn i quit my 1st job
see i said na ur santa is very sweet
Angel[3:12 PM]:
yes u r right...i agree....n i was cribbing abt the ious here and *** supported my santa too
it seems that my santa is not in xxx place!
Santa's Helper[3:12 PM]:
no comments
Angel[3:12 PM]:
okies
anyways plz convey my message to my santa that I love the teddy
Santa's Helper[3:16 PM]:
sure i will
See? Isn't this fun?
Will share my IOU designs after the excitement is over! J
Psst… wondering what my Secret Santa is up to… oh well!
Pic Credit: http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/santa-chimney-1.jpg
A Poem by Alexander McCall Smith
Winter Poem
That there should be winter, that this hard light
Should fall over a December Scotland,
Should make the sea gray, like steel, and the land itself
A rock rising from metalled water;
That there should be empty skies,
Free of protecting cloud, too cold
Even for that; that there should be
A vapour trail of some great jet heading west
To the colder shores of Greenland, Labrador,
Northern neighbours to us, distant cousins
In our marginality and our pursuit of fish;
That all this should be in a land that in summer
Is so soft and wet with drifting veils of rain
And filled with deer and clouds of midges
And the rich fecundity of ploughed fields
That will yield gold barley and whisky
Beyond the barley –
Scotland is a country of the north,
Everything here cries north; north the natural
Orientation of all our signs, our habits;
I sometimes wish, I confess, for a life spent
In the scent of wild thyme and olive trees,
For evenings when one might stroll
Slowly about a square and watch pigeons
Launch themselves into Italian air
From some tower dreamed up
By some High Renaissance imagination;
That, though, is not where we are from
Or where we are destined to be;
Our place is north, our natural gravity
That of a land that is an afterthought
To Europe, a land that comes late
To so many of the parties it's been invited to,
But which we love with all our heart,
With all our heart.
Winter doesn't make us better, then, or worse,
But enables us to find ourselves again,
Because it forces us to be quiet, obliges us
To listen to the coursing of our own blood;
Winter reminds us that warmth
Is not something we find naturally,
Some gift of munificent nature, but must be made;
That we should make in Scotland
A small place of warmth, a small country
Of kindness to others, of brotherhood,
Is what our poets have been striving to say
Since they first gave voice to song.
That we might find this, in winter,
In the ice and the cold is a local miracle,
Is a particular joy.
Affordable (and thoughtful) gift ideas!
Here're a few of my favorite gift ideas... which don’t cost the world
1. Cute soft toys from stores in Fariapukur (near Hatibagan) or New Market – surprisingly affordable and often of excellent quality. (Price Range: 50-500/-)
2. A bag of gourmet coffee (from CCD or Spencers) or tea (from Khadi Gramodyog outlets or any tea boutique) with a pretty coffee cup or a tea cup and saucer (Gourmet Coffee or Tea – 150-300/- or higher)
3. Personalized coffee cup
4. Bags of pistachios, almonds and cashews prettily wrapped with coloured ribbons
5. Framed artwork/photos/posters/postcards
6. A journal made of handmade paper and a set of gel pens
7. Deck of playing cards and book of card game rules
8. A Chess set
9. Pretty stationary (Writing sheets, envelopes, cards, stickers) and coloured gel pens
10. A cake baked at home, packed with a colourful cloth napkin
11. Disposable camera with a roll of film
12. Craft supplies
13. Serving bowl or platter or Vase (from Khidderpore Fancy Market)
14. Oven Mitts, pot holders, colourful aprons and kitchen towels
15. A small potted plant
16. A ceramic vase and a few long-stemmed flowers
17. A tablecloth and a set of table napkins
18. Dark chocolate bars tied with a ribbon
19. Hand decorated Photo album
20. Makeup tote with a nice lipstick, nail colour and a coloured eye-pencil, with or without a powder compact
21. A big bottle of hand lotion and a small hand towel
22. Mixed cookies in a ceramic jars
23. A small wicker basket filled with goumet candy
24. A subscription to a fashion mag (with heavy glossy pages and lovely pics)
25. Travel magazines with a travel planner
26. Movie tickets
27. Set of Board games
28. A home facial kit with a small hand towel
29. Specialty cookbook (with lots of pics)
30. Books, from a favourite author
31. Music CDs
32. A manicure kit with a couple of nail colours
33. Cozy sweatshirt and warm socks
34. A wicker basket with wooden kitchen spoons and whisks
35. A subscription from a video rental service (like BigFlix)
36. A bottle of premium olive oil and some select spices
37. A set of baking pans, measuring cups, whisk, spoons and other supplies
38. A handmade box for keepsakes
39. Colorful Post-It notepads and a set of gel pens
40. A big fat book of crossword Puzzles
41. A power cut kit (with a Flashlight and batteries, packets of chanachur, bhujia and other yummies)
42. A good set of makeup brushes
43. A basket with special bath soaps, shower gels, scrubs and a luxurious bath puff
44. Delicate silver earrings (from Chamba Lama)
45. Woollen stole in pastel shades
And now that you have your gifts ready, here’s how you can wrap them up creatively:
http://www.ehow.com/video_2369119_gift-wrap-box.html
Monday, December 13, 2010
Band Baaja Baaraat
The Incident: Watched Band Bajaa Baaraat (BBB) last evening at the City Centre Inox theatre. Have to say that it’s been an entertaining watch after a season of duds such as Anjaana Anjaani, No Problem etc - movies with no perceptible storyline, miserable acting and zero direction skills, BBB’s Shruti Kakkar (Anushka Sharma) and Bittoo Sharma (newcomer Ranveer Singh) are a refreshing change!
Shruti, from Janakpuri, knows exactly what she wants from life – in her case, to be the best Wedding Planner in Delhi, and perhaps even India. Bittoo is a farmer’s son from Saharanpur who adores his carefree existence and looks for ways to escape his father’s sugarcane farms and tractors. They meet at an engagement party which Shruti is managing and Bittoo is gatecrashing, and sparks fly!
The MO: The same old boy-meets-girl story gets an interesting twist with the focus on the wedding planning business. The dialogs are crisp, the songs are fun, the editing is absolutely adequate and so’s the cinematography. Anushka Sharma works well as the hardnosed Shruti while Ranveer is (almost) endearing as Bittoo.
Planning typical Delhi-style OTT wedding extravaganzas, Shruti and Bittoo’s firm called Shaadi Mubarak specialize in providing couples the OTT “dhingchak” wedding experiences of their lives. From their early days, they decide to follow a strict “binnes” rule, no falling in love with your business partner. They start with planning a razzmatazz low-budget Janakpuri wedding and eventually, some three years and many weddings later, work up to their dream of planning an upscale Sainik Farms extravaganza!
Of course, the inevitable happens after their first real break. The once professionally driven Shruti is lovelorn while Bittoo believes that business comes first and tries to avoid her in any way that he can.
A bitter spate takes place and the young couple go their separate ways.
Of course, since no hindi rom-com ends with tears, the end is predictable but it’s still fun seeing how they get there!
The first half is dazzling – what with the meeting of the protagonists, setting up the company and the weddings they handle along with the various hitches. The second half lacks the breeziness of the first but at least avoids descending into the hellish depths of other typical rom-coms rona-dhona type movies this year. The ending could have been better scripted but at least it’s a probable one (and one doesn’t have to swim in the Hudson either).
Verdict: I liked the movie. I wanted something light and frothy with my pop corn and I got just that. And I totally dig “Ainvayi Ainvayi”.
Perps:
Starring Anushka Sharma, Ranveer Singh
Direction, Story by Maneesh Sharma
Screenplay by Habib Faisal
Music by Salim-Sulaiman
Cinematography Aseem Mishra
Editing by Namrata Rao
Produced by Aditya Chopra
Studio Yash Raj Films
RATING:
1971 ads
Regressive ads from the 70’s… L
And I thought these retro ads were cool once upon a time L
Kenmore Stove Ad
It'll cook dinner even if I'm out shopping or something." Because that's all I'm good for - shopping and cooking!!
Van Heusen Ties
"Brand new man-talking, power-packed patterns that tell her it's a man's world...and make her so happy it is!" Yes, she looks happy as a slave!!
Hotpoint automatic dishwasher
Because she isn’t allowed in the living room until those dishes are spotless!
Lux Detergent
"Husbands admire wives who keep their stockings perfect." And um...their mouths shut.
Chase & Sanborn Coffee
Because stale coffee totally warrants a good ole fashioned beating!
Listerine toothpaste ad
Because I always buy a sleek new girdle with the money I save on tooth paste. Gotsta look good for my man!
Schlitz Beer
But you burned my dinner so get your ass back to the store!
Lucky Strike cigarettes
Because being a fatty is way worse than having cancer.
Palmolive soap
So your husband won't leave you.
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