Month: January 2016

Preferences

- Roshan

What do you find more unbearable: watching a video of yourself, or listening to a recording of your voice? Why?

Well I think I have mentioned this before. I hate the way I look and even sound. But I prefer my voice over my looks so I would prefer to hear recordings of myself over photos or videos of me. I hate posing for pics and do not like getting in front of the camera. Yet I make a lot of videos for Youtube!

Ofcourse for that I rarely appear on the screen instead using the camera on my phone to take the film and focusing on what the content is all about, rather than placing the camera in my direction and talking. That’s just me. And even though I am still not quite fond of the way I sound, it’s better than putting my fat n ugly self in front of the camera.

Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress.com

RIP Glenn Frey

- Roshan

Glenn Frey, Eagles guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, passed away Monday. He was just 67 years old. A singer, songwriter, producer and actor, but best known as a founding member of rock band the Eagles, during the seventies, Frey played guitar with the band, as well as piano and keyboards; alongside Don Henley, Frey was one of the primary singers of the Eagles, he sang lead vocals on songs such as “Take It Easy”, “Peaceful Easy Feeling”, “Tequila Sunrise”, “Already Gone”, “Lyin’ Eyes”, “New Kid in Town”, and “Heartache Tonight”. On January 18, 2016, Frey died at the age of 67 in New York City of rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia while recovering from intestinal surgery.

The Detroit-born Frey performed with groups in the Motor City area before relocating to Los Angeles in the late Sixties. Frey would eventually meet and live with J.D. Souther — his partner in the short-lived duo Longbranch Pennywhistle — and singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. It was Souther who encouraged Linda Ronstadt, his girlfriend at the time, to hire Frey and three other artists – drummer Don Henley, bassist Randy Meisner and guitarist Bernie Leadon – to serve as her backing band during a 1971 tour. When the trek concluded, the Eagles were born. A year later, the Eagles’ inaugural lineup released their 1972 self-titled LP, featuring the Frey- and Browne-penned “Take It Easy” and the Frey-sung “Peaceful Easy Feeling.” Eagles, one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, set the band on a trajectory toward being one of the biggest selling acts ever, a reputation cemented the following year with the arrival of Desperado. The latter album featured multiple hit singles co-written by Frey, including “Tequila Sunrise” and the title track.

Frey also had a hand in writing the Eagles’ “One of These Nights,” “Take It to The Limit” and “Lyin’ Eyes,” with the guitarist contributing lead vocals to the latter. The Eagles would reach their peak in 1976 with their landmark Hotel California, with the title track – penned by Frey, Henley and guitarist Don Felder – winning the Grammy for Record of the Year; “Hotel California” and “Life in the Fast Lane” (the latter written by Frey, Henley and Joe Walsh) would become classic rock staples. In 1979, the Eagles released The Long Run, which featured the last songs they would record together until the 1994 reunion live LP Hell Freezes Over. On Long Run, Frey provided vocals on the album’s most lasting single, “Heartache Tonight,” while also co-writing the title track and the Timothy B. Schmit-sung “I Can’t Tell You Why.” The following year, a fallout between Frey and Felder ultimately resulted in the group disbanding.

After the Eagles disbanded, Frey achieved solo success in the 1980s, especially with two No. 2 hits. In 1984, he recorded in collaboration with Harold Faltermeyer the worldwide hit, “The Heat Is On”, the main theme from the Eddie Murphy’s action comedy film Beverly Hills Cop; then, Frey performed “You Belong to the City” (from the television series Miami Vice, the soundtrack of which stayed on top of the U.S. album charts for 11 weeks in 1985). His other contribution to the soundtrack, “Smuggler’s Blues”, hit No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Frey also contributed the song “Flip City” to the Ghostbusters II soundtrack, and “Part of Me, Part of You” to the soundtrack for Thelma & Louise. During his solo career, Frey had 12 charting songs in the U.S. Top 100. Eleven of those were written with Jack Tempchin who also wrote “Peaceful Easy Feeling”. In the late 1990s, Frey founded a record company, Mission Records, with attorney Peter Lopez.[14] Frey never released any of his own work on the label and the company has since disbanded.

The Eagles broke up around 1980 and reunited in 1994, when they released a new album titled Hell Freezes Over. The album had live tracks and four new songs. The Hell Freezes Over Tour followed. The Eagles’ album Long Road out of Eden was released in 2007, and Frey participated in the Eagles’ The Long Road out of Eden Tour (2008–2011). In 2013, the two-part documentary History of the Eagles, directed by Alison Ellwood and co-produced by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney, was aired on Showtime. The documentary won an Emmy Award in 2013 for Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming. Frey is survived by his wife Cindy and children Taylor, Deacon and Otis. A memorial for Frey is currently being planned.

Roads Of India

- Roshan

Hilarious Article by a Dutchman who visited India

For the benefit of every Tom, Dick and Harry visiting India and daring to drive on Indian roads, I am offering a few hints for survival. They are applicable to every place in India except Bihar — where life outside a vehicle is only marginally safer.

Indian road rules broadly operate within the domain of karma where you do your best, and leave the results to your insurance company.

The hints are as follows:
Do we drive on the left or right of the road? The answer is “both”. Basically you start on the left of the road, unless it is occupied. In that case, go to the right, unless that is also occupied. Then proceed by occupying the next available gap, as in chess. Just trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, and proceed.

Adherence to road rules leads to much misery and occasional fatality. Most drivers don’t drive, but just aim their vehicles in the generally intended direction. Don’t you get discouraged or underestimate yourself except for a belief in reincarnation; the other drivers are not in any better position.

Don’t stop at pedestrian crossings just because some fool wants to cross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumped in the back. Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when traffic is moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister is in town. Still some idiot may try to wade across, but then, let us not talk ill of the dead.

Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some countries. We honk to express joy, resentment, frustration, romance and bare lust (two brisk blasts),or just mobilize a dozing cow in the middle of the bazaar. Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may read them during traffic jams, while awaiting the chief minister’s motorcade, or waiting for the rainwater to recede when over ground traffic meets underground drainage.

Occasionally you might see what looks like a UFO with blinking colored lights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminated bus, full of happy pilgrims singing bhajans. These pilgrims go at breakneck speed, seeking contact with the Almighty, often meeting with success.

Auto Rickshaw (Baby Taxi):
The result of a collision between a rickshaw and an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on an external combustion engine that runs on a mixture of kerosene oil and creosote. This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders or passengers three times its weight and dimension, at an unspecified fare. After careful geometric calculations, children are folded and packed into these auto rickshaws until some children in the periphery are not in contact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags are pushed into the microscopic gaps all round so those minor collisions with other vehicles on the road cause no permanent damage. Of course, the peripheral children are charged half the fare and also learn Newton ‘s laws of motion enroute to school. Auto-rickshaw drivers follow the road rules depicted in the film Ben Hur, and are licensed to irritate.

Mopeds:
The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes noise like an electric shaver. It runs 30 miles on a teaspoon of petrol and travels at break-bottom speed. As the sides of the road are too rough for a ride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road; they would rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around them and are often “mopped” off the tarmac.

Leaning Tower of Passes:
Most bus passengers are given free passes and during rush hours, there is absolute mayhem. There are passengers hanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings and the overloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity but obeying laws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (so many Rupees per kg of passenger), no questions are ever asked. Steer clear of these buses by a width of three passengers.

One-way Street:
These boards are put up by traffic people to add jest in their otherwise drab lives. Don’t stick to the literal meaning and proceed in one direction. In metaphysical terms, it means that you cannot proceed in two directions at once. So drive as you like, in reverse throughout, if you are the fussy type.

Least I sound hypercritical, I must add a positive point also. Rash and fast driving in residential areas has been prevented by providing a “speed breaker”; two for each house. This mound, incidentally, covers the water and drainage pipes for that residence and is left untarred for easy identification by the corporation authorities, should they want to recover the pipe for year-end accounting.

Night driving on Indian roads can be an exhilarating experience for those with the mental make up of Genghis Khan. In a way, it is like playing Russian roulette, because you do not know who amongst the drivers is loaded. What looks like premature dawn on the horizon turns out to be a truck attempting a speed record. On encountering it, just pull partly into the field adjoining the road until the phenomenon passes.

Our roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Do not blink your lights expecting reciprocation. The only dim thing in the truck is the driver, and with the peg of illicit arrack (alcohol) he has had at the last stop, his total cerebral functions add up to little more than a naught.

Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India, and are licensed to kill. Often you may encounter a single powerful beam of light about six feet above the ground. This is not a super motorbike, but a truck approaching you with a single light on, usually the left one. It could be the right one, but never get too close to investigate. You may prove your point posthumously.

Stoke City 0 Arsenal 0

- Roshan

Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League thanks to a point from a goalless draw at Stoke. Arsene Wenger’s side missed the creativity of Mesut Ozil, who was injured, but had chances to win the game only to be denied by Jack Butland. The England goalkeeper tipped over Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s long-range strike, before denying Olivier Giroud’s header. Stoke finished strongly as Jon Walters had a late header cleared off the line by Aaron Ramsey. The draw means Arsenal move ahead of Leicester on goal difference. Stoke remain seventh. Arsenal have started 2016 well poised to challenge for a first league title in 12 years, and key to their impressive form this season has been Ozil.

The German tops the Premier League assist chart with 16, so his absence on Sunday because of a foot injury was undoubtedly a big blow for the Gunners. It did, however, provided Oxlade-Chamberlain with the chance to step up. He certainly looked like he had a point to prove, forcing Butland into a fine one-handed save with a curling strike midway through the first half. However, he was also guilty of losing possession at times and became increasingly anonymous as the game wore on. If he is to prove himself an able deputy for Ozil, he will need to a show a lot more than he did on Sunday. Arsenal were looking for their first win at the Britannia Stadium since 2010, so a victory at Stoke – especially without their talisman Ozil – would certainly have underlined their credentials as genuine title contenders. In the opening stages of the game, however, they were second best, struggling to match Stoke’s neat passing.

They improved as the game wore on, but not by much. Giroud’s header – well saved by Butland – was their only effort on target in the second half. Stoke could have snatched all three points just before full-time, but Walters’ header from a corner was kept out by Ramsey, before Petr Cech blocked Joselu’s follow-up. So Arsenal are back on top with 44 points, same as Lesicester and 1 point more than Manchester City and 5 more than 4th place Tottenham. Next up is Chelsea at home on Sunday.

Awesome Sunday Out

- Roshan

After a couple of weekends staying in at home and not going out, today I went out by 11am to join my cousin Sujith for some coffee and sandwiches at a late breakfast/brunch before going on for some drinks. Kahawa Cafe & bristro in Atlantis was our destination, a place neither of us had ever been to before. We went there and ordered some food – he had the roast beef sandwich and I had the beef burger. Both were excellent and we rated each of them a 9 outta 10!

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Not sure what this cafe is best known for but it should be their milkshakes or chillers as they call them. We had these large choco chillers which were amazingly rich and delicious. I can’t be sure if I have had a better milkshake with icecream in Kochi ever. This was a 10 outta 10 for the both of us.

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Much talking about movies and science fiction later we made our way a while later to Couchyn Vibe at the Grand Hotel and settled down at a table to drink some beers. Budweiser and the Magnum one were the choice for the afternoon.

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It’s a shame that we can’t find places in Kochi that will serve you awesome burgers or pizzas with your beer. It’s tough but I think the 4 star and 5 stars hotels may have the option. I am not in the habit of visiting 4 or 5 star restaurants at all but I guess we will try one someday soon.

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We had barbecued chicken sausages (delicious by the way) and a poor Teriyaki beef plate which was way too salty and vinegary for our tastes. No problem the rest of the stuff was top class so we didn’t have any complaints. By 5 pm we left the hotel and went back to our respective homes.

Maggie

- Roshan

alt=I haven’t seen an Arnie film in which he hasn’t been the tough guy blowing up things, shooting guns and kicking ass in quite a while. Maggie is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s second horror/supernatural genre movie after End Of Days and stars him with Abigail Breslin and Joely Richardson. I can’t really say that it’s a horror film because the focus is not on horror but still this will fall in the horror genre.

In the film there is a pandemic which causes infected people to become zombie like creatures after a few weeks of getting bitten by an infected person. Having been infected by a zombie, teenager Maggie calls her dad, Wade, in his Mid-western farm and tells him not to look for her. She is caught by the authorities and taken to a hospital for treatment. After 2 weeks of searching for her Wade finds her in the hospital he brings Maggie home to care for her until she must eventually be quarantined. During their return, a zombie attacks Wade at an abandoned gasoline station and he breaks its neck. Maggie doesn’t see this.

Once they reach home, plans are made to send Wade’s two younger kids (by his second wife Caroline) to live with their aunt. Maggie, having said goodbye to her step-siblings, withdraws in her room and doesn’t come out much or go to see her friends. When she falls from her swing she lands on her finger on her infected arm but feels no pain despite the bone breaking. Terrified she cuts off the finger from which a black liquid oozes out, causing her to panic and she runs out into the woods where she encounters her neighbour Nathan and his young daughter who are both zombies now. Wade comes up to them and kills them both and calls the sheriff. Although he is remorseful the sheriff finds his decision right and blames the wife Bonnie for hid her infected family from the authorities. Bonnie visits Wade that night, decrying the dehumanizing treatment of the infected and revealing that Nathan had locked himself in with his sick daughter, becoming infected himself, rather than abandon her to death among strangers in quarantine.

After a doctor checks on Maggie’s status he warns Wade that the time is soon coming for him to either quarantine Maggie or give her a lethal injection which is painful. The doctor also advises to shoot the girl as it is quicker. Wade and Maggie talk about her mom and how Wade met her. Despite finding maggots inside her decaying arm Maggie strives to achieve some sense of normalcy by going out with her friend Allie to a party, after being encouraged by Caroline, and kissing Trent – an infected boy who she used to date before the outbreak. Trent tells her of horror stories of the infected in quarantine. A couple of days later Caroline is stunned when Maggie smells “food” and realizes that it’s not something being cooked in their kitchen but rather human meat that Maggie smells. Later Maggie finds Trent, who had smelled his father as “food”, locked up his room refusing to come out. Though she tries to talk to him, the cops come by and take Trent away to quarantine by force.

Back at home Maggie finds a trapped fox that she tries to free but can’t help herself and bites off some it’s flesh. Wade kills the poor creature and Caroline leaves, urging Wade that it is time to take Maggie to a hospital. He doesn’t do so but keeps a loaded shotgun ready with him incase she turns completely and attacks. At night as Wade pretends to fall asleep, an almost completely zombified Maggie comes down her skin now gray and her eyes blackened. She stops at his side and sniffs him but kisses him lightly and goes out to the top of the house and jumps to her death.

Although it is a bit dull…..ok a lot dull….the acting is certainly really good. Arnold finding more serious character roles as he approaches his 70s (he is 68 people) and can’t do those high octane action movies anymore. Abigail is awesome as the girl knowing that her end is near but I feel that the movie could have done a lot more with the story. I give it a 7 outta 10!

Ripped From The Headlines

- Roshan

Write about something that happened over the weekend as though it’s the top story on your local paper.

This just in : Details revealed about what happened over the last weekend at Roshan’s crib; an apartment on the 7th floor of an older building in the city.

Roshan woke up at 7 am, around the time he usually wakes up on a weekend after a good night’s rest. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, urinated and then walked over to the kitchen to get some coffee. The morning was spent like a lot of mornings when he is at home on a day off – on Youtube! Watching endless videos of food, music and travel. Lunch and a nap and a movie and then it was evening. More Youtube and some blogging and by 7pm he ordered fried chicken for his dad, mom and himself and by 8pm he drank some vodka and Sprite and ate his chicken dinner and then watched some tv shows on his laptop before he fell asleep.

The next was a repeat of the previous and more movies and more Youtube and quiet lunch at home and a quieter dinner. He slept early as he had to get up by 6 am on Monday morning. And thus ends the report on the weekend at Roshan’s.

Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress.com

Arsenal Unveil New Signing Elneny

- Roshan

After weeks of negotiations, Arsenal have confirmed that the 23-year-old Egyptian international has now joined the club, and could be in line to play against Stoke on Sunday. It’s understood that the player has signed a four-and-a-half year contract at the Emirates Stadium, with the fee thought to be in the region of £5million. The signing comes as a response to the spate of injuries Arsenal have suffered in central midfield, but there’s enough about Elneny to suggest he could be a real success at the club.

Elneny is:
– A quick, energetic midfielder that specialises in a defensive role

– A renowned distance shooter

– Arsenal’s first outfield signing for 351 days

– An Egyptian international with 39 caps at the age of 23

– A serial league winner – he won the title in each of his three seasons with Basel

– A solid passer – he has the second highest pass percentage in this season’s Europa League

He’s set to become the first defensive midfielder Arsenal have signed from another club since 2007, when Lassana Diarra joined from Chelsea. It’s obvious, but it’s difficult to overstate just how badly Arsenal have needed a new defensive midfielder over the years. Francis Coquelin’s emergence was arguably more down to luck than judgement, with the Frenchman’s rapid acclimatization to the Premier League even surprising Wenger himself. Those who have watched Elneny will know he is a tireless runner that will get up and down the pitch and press opponents all day. It’s been a while since Arsenal have had a truly dynamic defensive midfielder, with the likes of Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini and Coquelin all relatively restricted in terms of mobility.

Along with distance shooting, Elneny has also forged a reputation for being an excellent passer. His pass completion rate of 92.4% in this year’s Europa League was the highest posted by any Basel player, while he also averaged 92 passes per game in the competition.

RIP Alan Rickman

- Roshan

Alan Rickman, a much-loved star of stage, TV and films including Harry Potter and Die Hard – and owner of one of the most singular voices in acting ­– has died in London. He was 69 years old. A stage actor who made his name in the theatre world, Rickman gained wider notice for his film performances as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series. Rickman’s other film roles included the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply, Colonel Brandon in Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, Harry in Love Actually, P. L. O’Hara in An Awfully Big Adventure, Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest, and Judge Turpin in the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

The actor had been a big-screen staple since first shooting to global acclaim in 1988, when he starred as Hans Gruber, Bruce Willis’s sardonic, dastardly adversary in Die Hard – a part he was offered two days after arriving in Los Angeles, aged 41. In 1995, he was awarded a Golden Globe Award, an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Rasputin in Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny. He won a BAFTA Award for his role in Robin Hood. In 2013, he played Hilly Kristal, the founder of the famous East Village punk-rock club CBGB, in the CBGB film with Rupert Grint. In 1965, at the age of 19, Rickman met 18-year-old Rima Horton, who became his first girlfriend and would later be a Labour Party councillor on the Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council (1986–2006) and an economics lecturer at the nearby Kingston University. They lived together from 1977 until his death. In 2015, Rickman confirmed that they had married in a private ceremony in New York City in 2012.

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016)

Liverpool 3 Arsenal 3

- Roshan

Arsenal had their advantage at the top of the Premier League cut after Joe Allen’s late equaliser gave Liverpool a deserved point in an Anfield thriller. Olivier Giroud’s second-half strike – his second of the night and 18th of the season – looked to have put the Gunners on course for a crucial victory, but substitute Allen rewarded the hosts for a display bursting with energy and spirit with a low 90th-minute finish. Roberto Firmino twice gave Liverpool the lead in a breathless first half, the second a spectacular 20-yard drive, but Arsenal took advantage of poor defending from Jurgen Klopp’s side to level through Aaron Ramsey and Giroud.

Giroud also missed an open goal in the first half, while Firmino glanced a shot off the bar in a wide open game. With 10 minutes remaining, Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table was four points. Yet Robert Huth’s late winner for Leicester City at Tottenham and Allen’s late strike left Arsenal only ahead of the Foxes on goal difference. The visitors looked to have finally established supremacy in this topsy-turvy encounter when Giroud turned to put them ahead 10 minutes after the break – but then failed to press home the advantage and paid a heavy price. And it will be a matter of concern to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger that on nights like this at places like Anfield, they did not show the necessary ruthlessness to close out a game that was within their grasp. The Reds deserve great credit for the way they responded to the disappointment of going behind after leading twice – but Arsenal showed no assurance or authority when the pressure mounted in the closing stages and there was an inevitability about Allen’s equaliser.

Arsenal, when they should have been pressuring a desperately poor and under-strength Liverpool defence, instead allowed themselves to be pushed back. This was two points lost and Klopp will be the much happier manager. For such a regular goalscorer, Giroud remains a maligned figure by some Arsenal fans who regard him as just short of the highest class – and yet his strike rate speaks eloquently on his behalf. He showed a poacher’s instinct to touch home his first from Ramsey’s corner then showed good awareness and movement to turn Kolo Toure and score his second.
And yet those who remain unconvinced by Giroud will point to his astonishing first-half miss when he somehow failed to convert Hector Bellerin’s pass from a matter of inches in front of the Kop. Here, though, he demonstrated again that he will get goals and that is the best answer he can give to those who still doubt the France striker’s pedigree. Giroud has scored in four times in his past four Premier League games against Liverpool and has scored 11 goals in his past 11 appearances away from home in all competitions.

Arsenal are in first place with 43 points the same as Leicester City.

If I Could Turn Back Time

- Roshan

If you could return to the past to relive a part of your life, either to experience the wonderful bits again, or to do something over, which part of you life would you return to? Why?

Ah to get back to being 15 again. That was a good year to be alive. I would like to go back to 1991-92 oh such a wonderful memories I have of that time of my life. To be that young again and to be so full of wonder and the promise of a full life ahead of me. Back then I even thought that I could be a singer in a world famous rock band (hahahahahahahaha ah silly me)!

28-29 was a good time of my life. Not financially great but I really did enjoy what I was doing at the time. I made a lot of friends at this point and I was happier I guess and certainly more outgoing. That was a good time too. Just over 10 years ago. Hmmm, how things do change.

But the real joyful time is to be a young kid again. Ages 5-12. Ah what a carefree existence I had. No worries (other than missing that special cartoon or tv show) and having fun with my friends after school and during the holidays with my cousins. Playing games, playing football and cricket and board games till late in the night. Special memories of a life that will never come back again.

Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress.com

Long Day At Work & No Internet

- Roshan

Another long day at work yesterday, another 8 pm exit, another Uber, another late evening with no internet at home. That is what I was upto yesterday and why there was no post for yesterday. Not only was yesterday a terribly long and tiring day, working 3 hours extra and having to get an Uber to get back home. I have been working day shifts since December 2nd and ever since then I have been stretching at work on several days that it’s begun to feel like crap.

And when I come back home at 8:45 pm and switch on my laptop and find that the internet is down – my couple of hours chilling on the laptop and being online is gone and my relaxing for the evening is gone. Instead I have to call up the ISP’s hotline and raise a complaint and wait until the problem is fixed. Now usually I am all ok about the occasional technical complaint and I get it that things like an internet service does go down once in a while. Having worked in this industry for so long (mobile industry and such) I am cool with that and usually very understanding about it. But this particular issue has been happening every week for the past few weeks now and I am yet to get a proper resolution for it. And even though I didn’t raise my voice or make a fuss I did tell them that this is not acceptable as it has been happening quite frequently.

So after raising the complaint I sent a nicely worded two paragraph email to one of their managers and to their helpdesk hoping that they will look into the complaint and give me a proper resolution as soon as possible.

RIP David Bowie

- Roshan

The music world lost another iconic legend as singer David Bowie has died at the age of 69 from cancer. Tributes have been paid from around the world to the “extraordinary artist” whose last album was released days ago. His son, film director Duncan Jones, confirmed the news and a statement was issued on his social media accounts. The statement said that Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer, asking for privacy for the family.

Bowie was born David Jones in Brixton, south London, on 8 January in 1947. He changed his name in 1966 after The Monkees’ Davy Jones achieved stardom. Bowie’s hits include Let’s Dance, Space Oddity, Starman, Modern Love, Heroes, Under Pressure, Rebel, Rebel and Life on Mars. He was also well known for creating his flamboyant alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The singer, who had been living in New York in recent years, only released his latest album Blackstar on his birthday on Friday. The album, which includes just seven songs, has been well received by critics and was intended as a “parting gift” to the world, according to long-time friend and producer Tony Visconti.

IN a career spanning 57 years, his net worth is supposed to be around 135 million pounds with 140 million albums sols, 111 singles and movie roles. Bowie also carved out a successful acting career, including his role as an alien seeking help for his dying planet in Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth in 1976. He did a three-month stint as The Elephant Man on Broadway in the 1980s, with other roles that decade including Labyrinth, Cat People, The Last Temptation of Christ and The Hunger. The late 1980s were dominated by Bowie’s involvement with his new band, a postmodernist heavy metal outfit, Tin Machine. In the United Kingdom, he was awarded 9 Platinum, 11 Gold and 8 Silver albums, and in the United States, 5 Platinum and 7 Gold. In the BBC’s 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, he was ranked 29. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Artists of All Time and the 23rd best singer of all time. Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 17 January 1996 and named a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in June 2013 and 2 Grammys.

David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016)

Arsenal 3 Sunderland 1

- Roshan

FA Cup holders Arsenal came from behind to record a comfortable third-round win against Premier League strugglers Sunderland at Emirates Stadium. The visitors took a surprise lead when Jeremain Lens struck inside the box. Arsenal equalised through Joel Campbell’s half-volley, before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hit the woodwork. Substitute Aaron Ramsey tapped in late on to put Arsenal ahead before Olivier Giroud’s close-range finish wrapped up a 13th consecutive win in the FA Cup. Arsenal, who beat Aston Villa 4-0 in last season’s final, have won the FA Cup 12 times – more than any other side. Six of those have come under Arsene Wenger, who will become the competition’s most successful manager with one more victory.

Arsenal may be top of the Premier League, but Wenger underlined his intention to take the FA Cup seriously by naming a strong side, with first-team regulars Petr Cech, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud and Theo Walcott all included. It was a decision that paid off. After Sunderland’s unexpected opener, Walcott provided the assist for Arsenal’s equaliser and Hector Bellerin played a key role in their next two goals as the hosts’ experienced men carried them forward while the visitors’ mix of fringe and youth players wilted. Lens took advantage of some uncharacteristic hesitancy in the Gunners’ defence to score. That was only Lens’ third goal in 17 appearances for Sunderland, but his overall play will have been encouraging for Black Cats fans as his pace and physical presence caused the hosts a number of problems.

Arsenal have not lost an FA Cup tie in 13 games since Blackburn beat them 1-0 in February 2013 at the Emirates in the fifth round. No manager has won the FA Cup more times than Arsene Wenger (six). His first game in the competition was against Sunderland in the third round in 1997. Arsenal have not been defeated in the third round since losing a replay to Sheffield United 1-0 at Bramall Lane in January 1996 (W18 D5).

The Martian

- Roshan

alt=I watched The Martian around the Christmas weekend. The Martian is a 2015 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon with Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, and Chiwetel Ejiofor in supporting roles. The film is based on Andy Weir’s 2011 novel The Martian, which was adapted into a screenplay by Drew Goddard.

Set in the year 2035 the crew of the Ares III shuttle is part of the first manned mission to Mars. On day 18 of their 31 day mission a severe dust storm forces them to abort the mission and return to their orbiting vessel Hermes. During the evacuation, astronaut Mark Watney is struck by flying debris and is lost in the storm; the last telemetry from his suit indicates that it has lost pressure, with no life signs. With their launch vehicle on the verge of tipping over in the wind, and the remaining crew’s lives in peril, mission commander Melissa Lewis gives the order to launch without retrieving him; they subsequently leave Mars aboard the Hermes. Everyone back at home and in NASA believes Watney to be dead. However he wasn’t; just unconscious.

Watney wakes up by day to the sound of low oxygen warning and heads back to the habitat and tends to his wounds. He realizes that his only chance of rescue will be the arrival of the Ares IV crew in four years. Calculating that he has enough food to last only 300 sols (Martian solar days), he improvises a farm in the Hab by making Martian soil fertilized with vaccuum packed toilet waste, after finding whole potatoes saved for a Thanksgiving meal, and water produced by extracting hydrogen from leftover rocket fuel then oxidized by burning. He keeps a series of video logs to maintain morale and begins to modify the one functional rover to increase capacity to make long journeys across Mars’ vast terrains. While reviewing satellite photos of Mars, Mars mission director Vincent Kapoor and satellite planner Mindy Park realize that Watney has survived, and immediately start planning to establish contact. Initially the decision is made not to inform the rest of the crew that they had unknowingly left him there alive. Watney manages to restore communication to earth using delay typed text messaging.

The crew is finally informed of Watney’s survival & formulate a plan to send a space probe to Mars and resupply Watney with enough food to allow him to survive until Ares IV’s scheduled arrival. Watney suffers a disaster when the airlock on the habitat explosively decompresses, killing his potatoes and reducing his projected supply of food. The team on Earth desperately tries to reduce the time needed to prepare the resupply, resulting in Sanders deciding to skip safety inspections, which backfires when the probe, christened Iris, explodes shortly after liftoff. NASA gets help from China for another attempt while astrodynamicist Rich Purnell figures out a trajectory which could send Hermes back to Mars much more quickly, using the Chinese booster to instead resupply it for the necessary additional year and a half in space. Lewis and her crew vote unanimously to execute the plan, and NASA – powerless to stop them – proceeds with the resupply as Hermes flies by Earth, using its gravity to slingshot them back to Mars.

After 461 days on Mars Watney begins his 3200km, 90-sol journey to Schiaparelli crater, where the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) for the Ares IV mission was previously landed. He makes the recommended modifications to the MAV it escapes Mars successfully. He is able to make it to the open arms of his crew a reunion worth savouring and is brought back to earth. As the movie ends Watney begins “day 1” of his new life, serving as a survival instructor for new candidates in the astronaut training program, emphasizing his own experiences in problem-solving and creative engineering. Years later on the occasion of the Ares V mission launch, those involved in Watney’s rescue have returned to their lives or begun new lives.

Very good movie with some humour mainly from Damon and a nice soundtrack. It’s not really that exciting but it’s entertaining enough. I give it an 8.5 outta 10!