iPost

A lot of important things happened over the last few weeks none of which was worth blogging about. So we are back to the standard dilemma: should I write about something that does not interest me, or should I write about something that does not interest you?

The decision was easy. I chose the latter option.

So here's my first blog post written with my iPhone. Before you start asking me why I bought an iPhone if I don't like Steve Jobs and Apple, let me tell you that I did not buy it. I jailbroke an old iPhone that my cousin gave to me.

My verdict is that it is a cute little toy too small and slow for any serious work. It is bad as a phone since its charge hardly lasts a full day. That is, however, not as big a problem for me as it sounds since I don't browse the net on the go.

On the plus side, it has some nice apps for stargazing, a plethora of games and various other stuff that very conveniently distract me from my stressful work and help me spend my already precious time in more innovative ways. Now without spending a dime I can indulge in tremendously useful and interesting activities like playing musical instruments, count every step I walk and mark every spot I visit on the map. Oh yes, I can tell people where I am on Facebook too!

Wait, did I say that was a plus? Sorry, the real plus is that I can type out a blog post while my laptop is busy with my experiments. The iPhone spell checker and autocorrect, although irritating when I am typing a text message in Bengali were a great help while typing this post.

Speaking of Bengali, I have an app for typing in Bengali too.

এইরকম ভাবে |

So enjoy your weekend while I enjoy mine. I must end here because I think I am getting late for my taanpura practice.

A hundred years later

On April 15, 1912 the biggest man-made moving object on earth moved to the bottom of the Atlantic.

Exactly a hundred years later, I went to watch the movie Titanic today in a 3D theatre. However, this short post is not a review. There's no point reviewing a movie that came out fifteen years ago and has been seen multiple times by most people of our generation.

I know what a lot of critics say: Titanic is like the Twilight of disaster movies. It is a melodramatic, mushy, Bollywood-style over-the-top and unrealistic romantic film which did not deserve many of the eleven Academy Awards that it received. I would probably agree. I'll also confess that I like the movie. The movie brought back a lot of memories of my childhood - of school and early college days when I would listen to "My heart will go on" in endless loop.

When Titanic came out in 1997, I was in school and did not get a chance to watch it in theatres. English movies did not run for multiple weeks in Allahabad and the theatres in Allahabad were not too technologically advanced at the time anyway. I watched it much later on TV. I watched it several times since then. The last time was probably a decade ago. For me, Jurassic Park and Titanic were two movies that really redefined what technology could do in a movie. We have had all kinds of special effects since then - be it in the department of large animals wreaking havoc or in the portrayal of colossal loss of life and property - but we have never had anything that can beat the experience of watching Jurassic Park or Titanic for the first time.

My experience was incomplete. I completed it today by watching the RMS Titanic go down on big screen, in 3D, with surround sound. Who cares if it is a mushy love story? I enjoyed every moment of it!