Monday 30 January 2012

online SLR camera simulator

this is a fun way to waste time, if  like me, you have a lot of time, you don't have an SLR, but still could use some practice meddling with the settings and see how the results turn out...

http://camerasim.com/camera-simulator/

choose the manual option and have fun ! - i only wish they add more pictures in different settings - like landscapes, indoor pics, low light pics etc... that would add a lot more value... 

Saturday 14 January 2012

the controversy about controversial content...

the recent ruling by the delhi high court to initiate criminal action against about 20 websites, and call for banning some sites from india must have surely left most of us seething in indignance.

apart from the opinion that it deals a blow to freedom of speech and/or expression, the issue raises much more questions.

the first major issue here is that the goverment seeks to initiate criminal action against the websites - and the people heading those sites. while laws for libel or defamatory content have been around for ages, it is obvious that suing a website for third party content or opinion posted on it is not the same as suing the editor of a newspaper or the author of a book for its content. holding a website's ceo sitting in his office in california responsible for the millions of words that may be posted from all over the globe every day is just, well, illogical, if not ridiculous.

by extending the same logic of the government and judiciary, it would not be far fetched in saying that the chief justice or ministers or politicians are responsible for whatever is written on their compound walls, right ? so, if tomorrow, i decide to write profane,obscene, or anti-nationalist graffiti of the compound walls of the chief justice's house, he should go to his court and issue himself a summon. dont sue me, my lord, because obviously, you own the wall, you are responsible. and not to mention that all graffiti on the walls of every government office in the country, thus, can result in legal action against the respective government department, and by extension, the minister who is responsible for it.

and when it comes to 'objectionable' content, just what can be considered 'objectionable' ? and more importantly, to whom ? is all content that is objectionable to the honourable ministers and politicos liable to be removed from websites ? or can anybody make a complaint on what they consider objectionable and ask for it to be blocked ? where will this lead, and where will this end ?

personally, i think having to see someone emptying their bowels on the street during your morning walk is highly objectionable. when government after government, decade after decade, has been able to do nothing to change such situations in a country, i think it is a colossal waste of time to be issuing summons to tech companies, asking them to remove third party content.

and if any government is really concerned about 'objectionable' content, why is the state of movie censorship so  pathetic in the country ? why is there no strict age based rating for movies in india, which are rife with violence and obscenity. why is there practically no rating for television shows ? why isnt the government so concerned about what kids get to watch ?

india is a country where ironies abound. we have a government which doesn't think there is anything wrong about a tv show based on child marriage aired on prime time. the last time i heard, child marriage was illegal in india, right ? but it can, and will, enjoy viewership and TRPs and no ministry or minister will call for such shows to be banned.

well, if you dont watch it already, its high time now to get used to sitting in your living rooms and watching such wholesome entertainment with your kids ,while access to google, facebook, and such other stuff the rest of the normal world uses may soon be blocked.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

steeped in streep...


sitting on my nightstand right now is a copy of 'Julie & Julia', only a few days old... when i saw it while grocery shopping some days back, i really couldnt resist the urge to buy it as it was on sale, priced at only 3 bucks or something... i had seen the movie in the fall of 2009, but hadn't read the book till now... 

it was one of those movies on my to-see list that kept getting postponed, and when i saw it listed on a flight i was taking, i simply couldn't pass up the opportunity - even if it meant giving up some badly needed shut-eye. ( i was on a flight relocating from coast to coast, after some crazy days of cleaning, packing, shipping and internet apartment hunting, all just within the 10 days or so which had elapsed between the decision to relocate and the actual relocation.) when i think about it now, it feels ironic how julie practically begins her project and her blog around the time of her moving too.

sleep is one thing that i dont give up easily - if i did, despite being on a six hour flight weary, hungry and overwhelmed by a hasty move, it was because of my craziness for Meryl Streep. i love her to bits. i adore her movies, and think she's one of the most versatile and talented artists around... 

i loved the dancing queen dance and jive on the mediterranean coast... i fell in love with francesca romancing kincaid in the rustic beauty of madison county... i sighed in relief that i wasnt working for the devil that wore prada ... 

and now, as 2012 begins, i look forward to the iron lady... already having got rave reviews from critics, i hope it will bring streep a well deserved oscar... ( when i saw the blindside, however, i had no regrets about streep losing to sandra bullock that year - sandra bullock deserved it 200% for her brilliant performance as the no-nonsense southern mom)

getting back to the book itself, it is unpretentious and has an easy flow... easy to relate to, and not one of those literary tomes that has the potential to scare away not very serious readers...  

another one of my irrationalities is that even though i cook and eat pretty much unimaginative stuff most of the time, and rarely indulge in culinary adventures,  i like cookery shows and cookbooks for some reason... (and oh, not to mention pretty much anything french !)  - so all the more reason why i liked the book within reading the first few lines... 

maybe the day when streep wins her oscar, i'll make 'potage parmentier' to celebrate ;) (just saying - knowing me, in reality i'll probably grab the nearest box of ice cream to celebrate !)