2001 : A Space Odyssey was one of the greatest science fiction movies to be ever made in history. A magnificent direction by Stanley Kubrick, the movie has been nominated for various prestigious awards and also won several of them. The movie has been actually made from the novel of the same name by  the author Arthur C. Clarke. The movie has always been a great enigma for most of the viewers and each person has his own different facet of watching this movie. But, definitely there are several points that the director is trying to make in the movie. Want to know and clear all your concepts about this movie?
Here it is, a short Flash movie devoted to the movie which explains it part by part and makes everything so bright.

Go to www.kubrick2001.com  and watch the Flash video.

Now you know what this great movie of enigma really means.

And we thought R D Burman was one of the greatest composers Hindi Film Industry ever had. Alas! Here is a huge proof of plagiarism from him. I never expected this from R D! Still, he can be excused for all the major contribution he made to the film industry by composing a majority of the most melodious music known to the world. Not trying to be against the movie SHOLAY or anything which my readers would think after looking at the previous post that describes the plagiarism involved in making SHOLAY. Here is the original song by Demis Roussos which has been copied note to note by R D Burman to create the famous song "Mehbooba O Mehbooba". Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Here is a list of ten things that desis do in this country, which are interesting to the persons doing it, but maha boring to all the others around them.

1. Take part in Spelling Bee contests
How many times have we seen it ? A pipsqueak (sp ?) of an American born kid of Desi ancestry, usually called Venu Iyer or Anita Potlaneni or something equally bombastic (sp ?), complete with thick glasses and futuristic nerd looks, spelling its way to a fat college scholarship. The Newsweek or Time then publishes a photo and adds that "english is not the language they speak at home". Personally, I would rather use spellcheck.

2. Compulsive tendency to log in and read email and bboards frequently.
This activity is too boring to even describe.

3. Give vote of thanks in India Association meetings
This most boring activity takes place between the Cultural Evening and the Holi dinner. It serves no purpose other than to find out who the President of India Association is. This is the high point of his or her career and he thanks everybody and makes at least seven PJs. He uses the phrase 'Last but not the least' at least five times. He also makes about six announcements, including one about coughing up membership money for the next year. He also asks the audience to be quiet about three times.

4. Talk about their Ph. D projects
Usually this guy talks about how busy he is and how his project sponsors are coming the next week. If we pay some attention to him as a matter of courtesy we are treated to a byte by byte account of his computer code, completely debugged and documented for our benefit. He also believes he is running the show and his advisor is completely dependent on him. Watch out for the lumpen elements, who bore you to death with their projects, yet tell you that they would rather be doing something else.

5. Come here from India to visit their nephews
I am reminded of Ashish Ghosh's uncle who insisted on discovering America on a two week visit to this country. Once in a restaurant he was staring pointedly at the left breast of the waitress. It was unsettling. Before we could do anything about it, he even pointed his finger to her left breast. Every one of us, including the waitress, was horrified.

Uncle: (still pointing to the name tag on her left breast) "What your name means ?"
Waitress: "What ?"
Uncle: (insistently) "What your name means ?"
Waitress: "You want to know what my name means ? I don't know what Cheryl means. Its just a name."

  There are still other such stories. About the time he went to Seven Eleven and rushed straight into the cash counter and grabbed a pack of cigarette, instead of asking the cashier for it. The cashier would have shot him down, but for that sad, apologetic look in Ashish's eyes. And another time, he went to Sears and started taking his banian off in the aisle itself to try on a new T shirt or something, because he didn't know about the fitting rooms.

6. Go to India for a visit
This guy can be an absolute pain, starting a couple of months before his India trip. "Only forty three days more" he would insist on telling you. He would also tell you the complete list of gifts he was planning to buy for his various relatives. As an appetizer, he would also tell you what all he had to finish in the 'lab' before he leaves. "I can't wait to eat all the good grub and the mangoes" he would drag on. "I have fifty two uncles and two hundred and twelve first cousins and ten of them are getting married this summer and I will have to go to all their weddings. Pappu actually is my Mama's son, but we went to high school together. Actually he is a year older than I am. But I joined school one year earlier. You know how this is in India. My dad gave a false birth date and blah blah blah"

7. Trying to be interesting in a white man's party.
This is essentially done by fresh off the boat engineering/computer types who are trying to be cool. This involves constantly sipping alcohol and trying to make extended conversations with women, while trying to ignore other desis. If this desi dude meets another guy, lets say from Sweden, he would then tell him, "I like Sweden a lot. Land of the erotica." or something equally absurd. He would also pretend to understand all the jokes that are made, including some about himself. He would harangue extensively about India's foreign policy to people who would not want to get any more intellectual than talk about Michelle Pfeiffer.

8. Hang around in Indian Stores and try to rent desi videotapes
This activity is done by a lot of men and women. They would wander through aisle after aisle of moong daal, gripe water and sale items. "Have you got any fresh toor daal" she would ask. "Last time we bought it, it was bad". She would mentally divide the price to get the 'per pound' value and compare it to the prices in the other Desi store or the India Abroad prices. In the meantime, the male is hanging around the video section and asks the owner "Have you got any latest good movies ?" And then he would turn to whoever is willing to listen to him and say "Woh kaun hai ? Amitabh Kakkar or is it Amitabh Khanna, nahin nahin Amitabh Bachchan - that fellow acts okay. I saw his latest picture Zanjeer last week. It was good. You must see his movies." At which point, the storeowner would push a mushy trash videotape, a South Indian movie dubbed in Hindi, with heroines bigger than some Sumo wrestlers and the desi guy takes it without any resistance.

9. Have surprise parties for their girlfriends/boyfriends/spouse
This is the most boring kind of party you can be invited to - essentially because you are asked not to tell the person to be surprised and you really don't want to clutter up your brain with such trivial secrets. At the appointed time, you yell 'surprise' along with the other guests, with simulated enthusiasm in your voice. Lets face it, you are there primarily for the food. Then the 'surpriser' tells the 'surprisee' a long story about how elaborately he had planned the whole thing, how it almost got botched and how even though he has been doing it year after year on the same day, it is still very much a surprise and ......

10. Start singing in a desi gathering for no reason.
This is the lowest level a desi party can stoop to. Typically nobody knows how it all starts. But before you are ready for it, a wineglass shattering voice is rudely bursting into a song. The singer can be a male or a female. But whatever the sex may be, he or she usually closes its eyes and looks really funny. They also firmly believe that they have a gifted voice. "My throat is not okay today" they would shyly say at the end of the song. Just when you breathe a sigh of relief, they had already started on the next song, this time, even tapping their feet or shaking their whole body. At the end of the song, the embarrassed audience has no choice but to clap and encourage. "You have a good voice" someone in the crowd would lie to the singer "You must have sung in college". The singer becomes an icon of modesty while simultaneously getting flattered, before letting his blackboard-scratching voice boom into another song. If the singer is not the host, throw water on the person and extinguish the songs. You can always apologize later. Antakshari and dumb charades are much better.

First of all, the content posted below does not belong to me and I do not even know the source but I did find this stuff online and it is so true about most of the DESIS ( Indians students ) who come to USA for Masters. Thank goodness my life is different for the reason that I am an undergraduate.
God is so kind! Every year, the highest number of international students coming to USA belong to India with the figure exceeding 70,000. China is the next! Always second in comparison to India except for when it comes to population. Have fun reading and let me know what you think.
__________________________________________________________________

You may be a Desi if...

1. You ask for small drink at fast food restaurant because the refill
is free.
2. You know more than one plan offered by long distance
companies.
3. You take plain water instead of Coke for lunch. (may also be
a health nut)
4. You take any drink with no ice because you can't drink ice.
5. You ask before eating any meat "Is this beef?".
6. You try to ignore all other unknown desi's around you.
7. You tell your friends about this wonderful opportunity, and invite
them to an Amway meeting
8. You know all the facilities available at public library.
9. You talk to americans as if you represent your whole country.
10. Your stove top in your apartment is covered with aluminum foil.
11. You frequent to yard sales every week.
12. You find taco bell sauce packets in your kitchen drawer.
13. Your dinner involves spreading newspaper on the living room floor.
14. You take off your shoes before stepping foot in your living room.
15. You like onion rings at Burger King.
16. You are looking for dual voltage appliances.
17. The phrase "When are you going to India" comes into your
conversation at least once a day.
18. You bought Toyota or Honda car only because it has better
resale value.
19. The number of long distance calls is more than domestic calls.
20. You keep switching your internet service provider because the
first month is free.
21. You go back to your apartment for lunch.
22. Your full name contains more than 15 characters.
23. You know all the $1.50 theaters in your city.
24. The only reason you go to a temple on festivals is because there
is free food.
25. You have spent nights in the car while traveling because you
wanted to save money spent on cheap motel.
26. You don't know any American outside your work.
27. You tried to flirt with the Hindi speaking
operator at AT&T.
28. You have at least one India made pressure cooker in your kitchen.
29. You know how much a 7 layer burrito costs at Taco Bell.
30. You run to Laundromat in your lungi.
31. You put oil in your hair.
32. You have a picture of Indian deity on the dashboard of your car.
33. This thought comes to you "Oh shit I just saw another desi" when
you are window shopping at the mall.
34. You keep comparing prices at circuit city for the phone you bought
six months ago.
35. The lawyer handling your green card is in your speed dial.
36. You are compelled to visit ever major city in the US, just so as
to say that "Yes I have been there"
37. You are comfortable with an American than an ABCD.
38. You have been to Mexico or Canada for multiple entry H1 Visa.
39. You pay your bills the day they come in mail.
40. You spent 2 days cleaning your apartment before leaving so you can
get full security refund from landlord.
41. You have a bucket in your bath tub.
42. You have to borrow luggage from friends for an India visit.
43. The smoke detector goes off whenever you are cooking dinner.
44. You know which grocery store keeps coriander.
45. You buy butter milk before you run out of it.
46. You use grocery bags as garbage bags.
47. You say 'Damn I have already seen this show" whenever you are
watching Married With Children.
48. You buy rice in the 20 pound bags.
49. Office supplies mysteriously find their way into your house.
50. You don't want to buy a printer because you can always use the
office printer.
51. You have postponed buying that answering machine because the
computer you are planning to buy six months later has a built
answering machine.
52. Your idea of fun involves bowling.
53. You starts spelling your name to the operator like A as in Apple,
B as in boy, T as in train...well you get the idea.
54. You ask another desi if he/she ever got a traffic ticket.
55. You haven't had a single female in your apartment besides your
friend's wife.
56. You bring over the counter medicines like Iodex and Vicks from
India.
57. You decide to marry a girl, your parents fixed without even
meeting her.
58. You know the current differential in gold prices between India and
US.
59. You smell like a curry.
60. You go to a temple to pick up a women.
61. You have worked illegally in a Guju's motel.
62. You mark your forehead with scared ash.
63. You have a bought a video camera just before Niagara trip and
returned it after the trip.
64. You wear VIP/Indian brand underwear and undershirts.
65. You have Rin (detergent soap cake) in your bathroom.
66. You have taken pictures of your car and mailed it to your folks
back home.
67. You use the credit card with maximum cash back.
68. You have collected enough frequent flier miles for an
international trip.
69. You are saving more that 30% of your salary.
70. You have never asked a girl out. (you might just be plain ugly
too)
71. You've bookmarked immigration web pages in your browser.
72. You know your friends salaries!
73. You tried to talk in a phony accent with the freshie in the
school.
74. You have asked a PhD student for a ride to grocery store.
75. There are more that 4 guys living in a 2 bedroom apartment.
76. You have cooking schedule in your kitchen cabinet.
77. You spend at least 2 evenings in a week at Kmart.
78. You split even the tax out of your common grocery bill.
79. You complain about Indian international airports on your first
vacation to India.
80. You take 4 week long vacation.
81. You are the first to know about any on campus job openings at
the school library/cafeteria/computer center.
______________________________________________________________________

Stuff added by me:~
* You promise temporary accommodation and an on-campus job to  Freshmen traveling from India in return of signing up as a new IBO for QUIXTAR/AMWAY.
* Present a perfect picture of an Amnesia attack after signing up the new student by suddenly forgetting about all the promises you made.
* You throw out the student whom you were most friendly to, the moment he/she refuses to sign up.

The brand new relationship! BUXFER and FaceBook! Facebook opened a whole new world for people of the world when it allowed creation and embedding of applications on their website. Very soon thousands of Facebook applications took birth. Some were fun, some were useful and some were just pointless entertainment. That is when BUXFER too got in the race!
BUXFER launched its brand new application on Facebook by the name of IOU 2.0 and the rest was history. Thousands of Facebook users can now track every single penny they spend! Its fantastic to put up one's expenditures up there, it looks very fancy when every friend can see that what you are upto!
Try it out! BUXFER is awesome fun! Not only Facebook but BUXFER is a huge company. Get BUXFERing at www.Buxfer.com !

Found all your beloved videos on Youtube and Google Video? Awesome! But the sad story is that you never knew how to save them and keep them all to yourself. Here is my answer to this misery. So now the three easy steps to save a YouTube or Google Video to your disk.



 

1) Go to www.KeepVid.com

2) Copy and past the URL from your address bar e.g."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o5C1yUlx6w" to the BOX at Keepvid.com .

3) Click DOWNLOAD! ALL DONE! =)

The video gets downloaded to your disk as a Flash Video File. Simply use a Flash Video Player or convert your videos to any format that you desire! Easy and awesome isn't it? Enjoy your videos and keep them alllll to yourself!

People keep wondering about SHOLAY, the most successful movie in INDIA, a cult classic which spent years in various theatres of Bombay and other cities. The style, the dialogs, the eccentric villain and the never-seen-before locales created a strange amusement amongst the Indian movie connoisseurs. As a result, they worship the movie. Amitabh Bachchan shot to intense fame after the movie's release in the year 1976.
 People went so crazy that they erected a temple at Calcutta, INDIA in the honor of Amitabh Bachchan where fans actually worship his idol. So now let me share the truth behind the making of Sholay. The SHOLAY recipe was simple. The famous writer duo of India, Salim-Javed clearly extracted the script from 4 wonderful western hollywood classics -
1. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
2. The Magnificent Seven
3. Once Upon A Time in The West
4. For A Few Dollars More
Each and every scene from the movie SHOLAY has been copied exactly from these four gems. The recipe consists of entire scenes from these 4 movies blended into similar Indian locales and then beautifully churned into a DESI Bollywood style storyline which also includes two beautiful actresses for the two handsome men and also a wonderful "dance-to-save-the-HERO" song.
Yes it has the same spice!
If you watch the 4 classics, you can immediately make out the prominent similarities. As a matter of fact, the evil laughter of GABBAR SINGH has also been portrayed exactly by Amjad Khan.
Now you know what magic can be created by adding a hint of Bollywood Spice to Four Great Hollywood classics! Enjoy the movies though!

Time for the music revolution. Ever wondered why iPOD got so popular? It's excellent battery life, high storage capacity and ease of use but most importantly, the ease of getting MP3s is what made it so popular. Where do you go for MP3s? Google? Nope! Solution? Peer 2 Peer softwares! Yay! But wait, you still need to pay for the software! Here is the solution that I came up with.
I am sure people know about LimeWire, but the truth about LimeWire is that it does not give search results to the older versions. Older the version, less are the search results. You need to keep paying for the updates. But still, there exists a beautiful and brand new solution. THE FROSTWIRE!
A brand new in its type, it is FREE and an Open Source Application which looks and works exactly like LimeWire. Also, it contains no trojans and ipod advertisements that LimeWire offers for download.
Please welcome, THE FROSTWIRE . Download your copy now and get set for the world of MUSIC! Its fun, its fast and its easy! Let me know how you like it.
Adios! =)

As the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States suggests, let us enjoy the FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Got any good/bad ideas? Pranks? Suggestions? Come on in to the the "Temple of the Screaming Electron", yes you heard it right. It is the TOTSE. People from all over the world come to TOTSE and share their wildest of ideas. It ranges right from "carshopping" to hacking etc. Got stuff to say? Jump in and talk! It is after all your FREEDOM OF SPEECH!

Ever thought of being a Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Van Halen or Mark Knopfler? Do you have that strong desire to set the stage on fire, wham n' jam and make those heads bang? All your dreams are just a few lessons away!
Welcome to the world of GUITAR PRO a highly powerful tool which can make all your musical dreams come true and make you the master of those 6 strings.
All you need is this powerful tool called GUITAR PRO 5, a computer, a guitar and your fingers to do the magic.
Buy Guitar Pro 5 online of download it for free at some torrent site if you know how to do it. Ask me if you don't.
Once you have the software, all you need to do is find the tablature file online which is mostly in the ".gp4" or ".gp5" extension. There are millions of tablature files online and so you can be 100% sure to get your song. Run this file in GUITAR PRO and you are all set to rock!

Guitar Pro serves the purpose of making it simpler for musicians to compose music, editing directly into a tablature and/or musical partiture, and study music by offering advanced playback capabilities. It can also be used as a MIDI sequencer. The software makes use of multiple instrument tracks which follow standard staff notation, but also shows the notes on tablature notation. It gives the musician visual access to keys (for keyboard instruments) and strings (for guitars, basses, banjos, etc.) for the song to be composed, and allows live previews of the notes to be played at a specified tempo. It allows for certain tracks to be muted and provides dynamic control over the volume, phasing and other aspects of each track. Included in version 4 onwards is a keyboard that allows pianists to add their part to a composition.

So wat are you waiting for? Go ahead and ROCK IN THE FREE WORLD!