For the heck of it

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Did you feel it???

I definitely did! There was an Earthquake in Dubai at around 1415 hrs on Sunday 27th November 2005, which was measured to be a 6.1 on the Richter scale. I work at Montana Building on the first floor - the building is located on Za' Abeel Road. Though the quake hit Iran, we here in Dubai - at least our whole office bunch - did feel the shake!



According to the Dubai Municipality’s Buildings Department, all the residents of Dubai have no reason to panic following the tremors on Sunday afternoon. This is because, all old and new buildings, villas and high-rises in the Emirate are supposedly earthquake resistant.

Now that's a HUGE relief!

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Red Bull gives you WIIIIIIIINGS!!



Red Bull organised its first Flugtag in the UAE on the 25th of Novermber, 2005. “Flugtag” means "flying day" in German language. The event allows spectators to join in the fun while watching fearless amateur pilots attempt to fly human-powered machines!

36 teams are selected to take off at the 1st Red Bull Flugtag in the UAE. Most of the participants spent about three and a half months building their flying machines for the flying day contest.

The event took place at the scenic Dubai Creek Park. The event that made the tour, since 1992 of more than 20 countries around the world, was held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashed Al Maktoum.

Some images below...



Traditional Emirati dancers walk down a ramp after performing at the Red Bull Flugtag in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.




Members of the "Hump D' Camel" team launch their vehicle off the take-off ramp at the Red Bull Flugtag.




"Hump D' Camel" and its pilot plunge towards Dubai Creek during the Red Bull Flugtag.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Some memories are best forgotten - MEMENTO

MEMENTO was released in an English version in 2000. It's a brilliant movie about a guy called Leonard, who wants to avenge the murder of his wife.



Leonard is an insurance investigator whose memory has been damaged following a head injury he sustained after intervening on his wife's murder. His quality of life has been severely hampered after this event, and he can now only live a comprehendable life by tattooing notes on himself and taking pictures of things with a Polaroid camera.

The movie is told in forward flashes of events that are to come that compensate for his unreliable memory, during which he has liaisons with various complex characters. Leonard badly wants revenge for his wife's murder, but, as numerous characters explain, there may be little point if he won't remember it in order to provide closure for him.

The movie veers between these future occurrences and a telephone conversation Leonard is having in his motel room in which he compares his current state to that of a client whose claim he once dealt with.

I really want to watch this movie and I rummaged through all the video stores here in Dubai without much luck. Trying to get hold of it desperately... mebbe download it using LimeWire ;)

The movie is in fact been adapted from a Latin novel by the name Memento Mori...

And yeah, the novel was also made into a Tamil film called "Ghajini" with some changes, which was a money spinner at the box office. The movie has Surya and Asin in the lead role.



Guys, check out Memento's brilliant website at: Memento

By the way, namma Ghajini also has a web site here.

UPDATE: Yes!! Finally, watched the movie... and boy, was it brilliant!

Monday, November 07, 2005

Fuckin' Fascists!!

The US (read: Assholes) does not like Natwar Singh

The issues relating to the reference to K Natwar Singh, the Congress and a number of Indian industrial houses in the final report of the supposed Independent Inquiry Committee of the UN headed by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, need to be debated in the over-all national interest.

One should resist the temptation to exploit it for partisan political purposes.

The Volcker report refers to individuals and entities in a number of countries. In other countries, one does not see the kind of excitement, name-calling and brickbat that one has been seeing in India. Why?

The credibility of the US as a world power, of the Bush administration and American professional experts, governmental or non-governmental, has taken a severe beating following the manner in which the US, supported by its experts, made out a false case against the Saddam Hussein government in order to justify its invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The anti-Saddam campaign whipped up by the Bush administration was based on four claims.

First, Iraq was clandestinely acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

Second, it was in league with the Al Qaeda.

Third, it had carried out large-scale massacres of the Shias.

And four, it had misused the UN's Oil-For-Food-Programme.


Of the four, the first three have already been proved to be blatant lies deliberately disseminated by the disinformation divisions of the US intelligence agencies. There is, therefore, a compulsive urge in the US official circles to show that at least the fourth allegation was correct.

All US administrations -- particularly the Republicans more than the Democrats -- have never hesitated to use lies and fabrications to settle political score against not only foreign, but also even domestic adversaries.

The post-Watergate inquiries brought out how the Federal Bureau of Investigation planted false stories and fabricated documents in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the reputation of the late Reverend Martin Luther King and to what depths Richard Nixon did not hesitate to descend in his campaign against the Democrats.

In the past, India in general and Indira Gandhi in particular were the victims of the worst kind of disinformation disseminated by the CIA in order to teach them a lesson. How many of us remember the stories, reports and documents circulated by the CIA, alleging that she had given a naval base to the USSR in Vizag and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands? More...