Cricketer of the year
Filed under Sports
Harsha lists the top performers in cricket for 2005, the summary is as below:
ANDREW FLINTOFF
709 runs, 68 wickets, an unmatched sporting spiritSHANE WARNE
40 wickets in the Ashes series, when his life was falling apart around himRICKY PONTING
1443 runs, 6 centuries. Currently the world’s best batsmanBRIAN LARA
1110 runs at 65.29, five centuries. 36 years youngMUTTIAH MURALITHARAN
Destroys and rebuilds. On the field: 52 wickets in 8 matches. Off it: 220 houses built for tsunami-affectedTATENDA TAIBU
607 runs in losing causes but his best shot has always been in speaking his mind
And the/your winner is?
Who said it?
Filed under Sports
Sehwag’s mind is uncluttered while he bats. I have heard this from Nassir Hussain, Ravi Shastri, Wasim Akram and now, Harsha Bhogle. I think I first heard it from Akram. Who thought of it first? Any idea?
Closing Remarks
Filed under Writings
The most common closing lines that I have seen/heard/read in media are “Only time will tell” and “The rest is history”. I read both of these statements in today’s TOI. I remember reading them 10 years ago as well. Do these writers always have to go back to the same damn thing? Over and over again? Cant there be a better phrase to use in such situations?
Guys, please note
Filed under General
Overheard in a Men’s show on TV - the top 3 things that women look for in a man in the first meeting are (in no particular order, I hope): shoes, watch and fingernails.
Cup-holders, anyone?
Do you know what women look for as the top (buying) feature in a vehicle? According to a survey done by GM in the US, it is the number of cup-holders. The more the cup-holders, the more they want to buy the car. And the reason stated was safety, when traveling with kids. Airbags and crumble zones didnt even appear in the top 10 features!?
A friend wants to sell his almost new mobile phone that he bought for his wife because she wants to buy a clam-shell model. First of all, I can’t understand how he can buy something for her without asking her what she wants. Anyways, that got me thinking of why women prefer clam-shell models.
IMO, the clam-shell mobile, provides (a feel of) more privacy. It’s like, “Why expose my screen to anyone?” It could also be that women see the entire activity of opening it, answering it, and closing it, is a form of ‘real’ closure to a conversation.
But it may not be entirely related to the x-factor. For anything that they do, human beings look for the “feel” of safety, if not safety. One big reason why Ford Explorer with 80 accidental deaths per million vehicles outsells Camry which has only 40 deaths/million. You will see more men in an Explorer, so we cant deduce a theory here.
But the cup-holder thing is true. It is a fact that more Camrys are bought by women than men, and it has 8 cup-holders! Touche.
680/0 declared
Filed under Sports
Indian bowlers looked helpless when Pakistan scored 650+ runs at 4.5 run per over. Especially when Afridi and Akmal were toying with the bowling during their partnership of 170 runs off 21 overs! And they said it demoralized the Indian players. Well, did it?
I didnt see any trace of it as India piled up 400+ runs at 5.5 runs per over without losing a *single* wicket! Sehwag is closing in on his record score and I hope my prediction when the Indian innings started (of him scoring 270) is proved wrong and he goes on to bat the whole of the last day. That is sufficient for him to break all the existing batting records. And the intermittent rains are giving him sufficient rest. It is all working in our favor. So Veeru, go for it.
IMO, this make shift opening partnership has already defined the series. Oh, just so we won’t forget, the highest ever opening score is just 10 runs away. I am seeing 680/0 declared on the wall.
PS: Guess who is taking the most bathroom breaks in Lahore? Ganguly. He is probably crying his heart out for refusing to open the innings.
Excuse or Reason?
Filed under General
Many friends ask me why my car is ’so’ dirty these days. Here is my typical answer, “It is very cold in the morning and it’s tough to get up early. And so I reach the office late. I don’t get a proper parking space at the office, and I end up parking outside the office in the open. And around 4PM, kids going back home from school, pass through this open space. When my car was clean, they would pick up stones or coins to write things on it. But when it is dirty/dusty, they tend to use their fingers to write on it (They just like to see their names written). So I end up having a cleaner car in the overall perspective.”
Retrievr
Filed under Links
http://labs.systemone.at/retrievr/
Sketch an image in the box provided on the left of the page, and Retrievr will fetch images from Flickr that matches your sketch!! Truly amazing. (Hint: Use different colors, and try to keep it simpler. After all it is a program you know)
Even more interesting is the way the logo and visual treatment match with that of Flickr. Yes, they use the Yahoo provided APIs to swing it. But with such a closely tied up hash, Yahoo has no choice but to buy them.
Localized Promotions
I am not sure if any Puneite would agree to the title of this post. This is about some ads that I came across in the local editions/newsletters last week. One, from a lifestyle store called F-cube, said, “This cube has more than 6 dimensions” and the other was for an apartment complex which as one of its USP said, “Gymnasium with equipments”.
TransAMERICA
Filed under Entertainment
The film captures the life of a transsexual who is awaiting his operation to become a woman. A forgotten story from the past (his son from a ‘lesbian’ relation in his neighborhood) comes back to his life. He has to take care of the past before becoming a woman, which takes him on a trip across America with his son.
Rarely do such movies - simple story telling, what I call the European craft- come out of the US (see my post below). It is one of the more sensitive movies that I have seen in quite some time.
Felicity Huffman should get a nomination for best actress (yes, it a woman who portrayed the role of Stanley/Bree, which takes away some of the chances of a nomination, but she was GOOD - full marks)
It’s Duncan Tucker’s first film, and though the ending was mildly disappointing, for me it is a truly amazing debut. (9/10)
