spo0nman

Apart from being drop dead gorgeous, Ruby is also an amazing cook(sorry boys she's taken). I love the beef curry with potatoes she makes and this is my humble attempt at it. with recipe from Ruby of-course.




Ingredients:

* oil
* bay leaf 1
* beef - 1/2 kg to 800 grams dice into pieces (2 cm)
* potatoes - 2 large cut into 8 pieces each
* tomato - 1 diced
* fresh corriander - 1/2 a bunch along with the stems
* salt to taste

(for paste)

* 1 onion
* 6-7 cloves of garlic
* 1 inch of ginger
* 1 green chilli

(masala)

* 1/2 tbsp turmeric
* 1-1/2 to 2 tbsp red chilli powder (i like it hot + it gives 'that' awesome colour to the curry! if u want u can use less)
* 2 tbsp corriander powder
* 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
* 1/2 tbsp jeera powder

Method

* put cut potatoes in a bowl of water and keep aside

 

* heat oil in a pressure cooker add bay leaf



* add the paste fry for 2-3 mins



* add all the masalas, mix and fry till oil seperates



* add beef chunks, salt to taste ,mix well and cook ,stirring frequently ( do not add water at this stage )



*add chopped tomato and chopped corriander stems
* mix and cook for 5 mins
* add water, put the pressure cooker lid on and cook



*4-5 whistles and then remove the pressure and check if the meat is almost done. if not then add a little more water and repeat
* when the meat is almost done add the potatoes - lid on, 2 whistles ONLY (or else the potatoes will mash)
* remove pressure. and it's done!
* garnish with chopped corriander leaves



More Ruby ...

Where can I start? I found out about Jacaszek from the All songs considered post in which Lars Gotrich recommended him by saying, On Treny, Polish composer Jacaszek manipulates mournful strings and an ethereal voice, tugging between electronic music and neo-classical composition. Its bleak beauty frequently caught me off guard, sitting motionless, unable to do anything but soak in all 55 heartache-inducing minutes at once.



I loved the song Lars played and got my hands on the album. Lars' was right, with "Treny" Jacaszek produced 55 minutes of such heart-wrenching, poetic, alluring and beautiful music that I was undone. I listened to the whole album in one sitting and then I listened to it again and then I sat silent for an entire evening.

Jacaszek’s wordless magisterial world of delicate string play and beautifully paced voices transforms you into a gothic world that evokes tottering depression, you don't want to leave, you relish it and are inspired by it. It's like walking a deserted boulevard on an autumn morning. Walking down deserted streets, capricious leaves blustering and falling off trees, orange and yellow, the winds lead the world bare, as you walk alone with your lonesomeness and the malignant thoughts that accompany you when no one else wants to or can be around you. Treny came out of nowhere, caught me off-guard and gripped me from behind like a corrupt goddess uttering in my ears, filling me up with its malinger - like molten wax.

Treny has beautiful string arrangements in Cello and Violin strung together with electronic drone and punctuated with harp, piano and haunting voices.

You need to listen to Treny many many times, alone, in head phones, walking untouched alleyways. It deserves a space in your head, it deserves your trust, it asks you to give in and follow where it takes you, it expects unbridled affection, romanticism, melodrama, anguish and tears of looking at something beautiful. Leaving you wallowing in your crushing depression, despair, dole, grief, and heartbreak.

Can't wait for this ... i'm jumpy.


Previously.

Were the 80s really that bad?

Yes.

I was born in the 80s :). If you'd ask me, I'd say all music, everything that came out in the 80s was just awful. Even now, there is really not much from the 80s that I like at all. Given I didn't really "grow up" in the 80s I still find the music embarrassing.

I started listening to music seriously in the mid 90s and there was MTV to dish it out. Every now and then, I'm subjected to 80s music at pubs (yes even in the year 2008) and mixed tapes in peoples cars. And, I can't but cringe. The 80s were full of that synth sound and cheesy and bad - no matter how you look at it, it was bad. Let's not even go into the clothes and the hairstyles.

Let's try to find one artist or an event that happened in the 80s that changed music. There was so much music being produced in the 80s, there were a billion and one genres of metal alone - Black metal, Doom metal, Death metal, Folk metal, Glam metal, Hair metal. Goth metal, Speed metal, Thrash metal. There was so much pop music produced and nothing out of it all is worth remembering.

In the beginning of 80s the new wave of metal, british metal was at it's peak, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Venom, and Saxon, Judas Priest all released an album this year, this was the year AC/DC released their Back in Black, but, then something happened.

Yamaha released the Yamaha DX7. At the time nobody knew what a big mistake it was, this single abomination would become the weapon of mass destruction of music. The Dx7 was not only used by untalented people but, all the people producing great music till the 80s would come to use the DX7 and create the worst music in the history of humanity. Pet shop boys, beastie boys and even Queen gave in. I'm not a big fan of the Eagles but. how will any Don henely fan would ever forgive him for this?

Starship's nothing's gonna stop us now borders on disgust, The sacrilege was not limited to glam bands, it took over pop too. There was no restraint in the usage of the sync -- producing nauseating sounds like, Let's hear it for the boy and kenny loggins footlose. How can we forget the sounds of Air supply I even confess to buying this album :(. Let's not even talk about what Warrant, Sebastian bach, Motley crue, Cinderella and Twisted sister were doing. Even The great Ozzy osbourne could not control himself. And these were the most popular and most money making bands of the 80s. The 80s also gave us New Kids On The Block and Duran Duran.


There was also Poison and Whitesnake were providing a saving grace but, nothing worth remembering. Then came The final countdown this has to be the most played and the worst rock song of all times. This song epitomists everything about 80s music. They had some new toys and were dying to use them, no one knew how to use these instruments and the synth was the most overused instrument in the 80s.

When I think of the 80s, I think of exaggeration, The popular music was so over the top. Grand over reverb-ed sounds. And, the synth. The synth found it's way to almost every song that was ever produced in the 80s. The worse part was not that the music was so bad, but, that everyone producing it thought that they were so good.

All wasn't bad. There were handful of artists producing good music throughout the 80s - R.E.M continued to produce good music, U2 released the Joshua tree, Tracy chapman released fast car in 1988. There was Minor Threat, who were so far ahead of their time that no one got them. The iconic moment that we were looking for was Thrash metal. Thrash grew in the alleyways of America when the populous was busy listening to cheesy metal ballads like Home sweet home, Headed For A Heartbreak, Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone), Every Rose Has Its Thorn.

Thrash metal evolved from speed metal and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal at the beginning of the 1980s, although Black Sabbath's 1975 song "Symptom of the Universe" is often regarded as the earliest example of a thrash metal riff, it was bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth who spearheaded thrash metal. This was indeed 80s gift to us. Thrash was underground till the very end of 80s. It was not until when Metallica released Black in 1991 that Thrash saw popularity, most fans of Metallica's earlier music consider Black to be the album where Metallica "sold out" and left the real thrash scene.

The other gift of the 80s was Guns and Roses, GnR was formed in 1985, but it was not until 1987 that GnR saw popularity, Appetite for destruction is without doubt the best debut album ever. GnR produced a sound which was accessible to almost everyone. Along with Metallica's Black they made rock the new pop.

80s was also the time when grunge was growing in the underground garages, Soundgarden struggled throughout the 80s and gained popularity in the early 90s, I think if it were not for the really cheezy bad music of the 80s we'd never have had the music of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Metallica, Megadeth and everything that followed. So, we do owe something to the 80s.

Update:

Also worth mentioning was Sinead o'connor, which, does not count because she made like one album. And, how could I have forgotten Micheal Jackson. He was the sole artist who rocked in the 1980s

Bombazine black is a beautiful project playing with ambient sounds and I just fell in love with this song I heard on the NPR podcast. It's from their album Here Their Dreams, and is calles The Sun Will Set

Was mad hot. But, was worth it.

Today Nikon launched D90 As a DSLR it's a D80, same controls similar specs, but, for one crucial difference. It shoots Movies.

Ken Rockwell's review


And no camcorder home movie crap. It shoots almost close to a 35mm movie ... You can project the movie you shoot on this $1000 camera on a theater. This is specially exciting for me because I've always wanted to shoot good quality videos with nice DOF and the camera capable of such tricks and the lenses for cine cameras are all very expensive.

Imagine using your 105mm macro for portrait on video with the background in big fat bokeh. Imagine making movies in semi hd quality with professional lenses.



I can't wait.

I've often heard people complain about screen space, and there are many who advocate having two and three monitors. So, I gave it a shot and had a setup with two monitors ... nothing too fancy a 17" screen on top of my laptop.





Having the browser and the codebase bot visible together may seem like an advantage, it is. But not so much as you'd think.

After doing this for a whole month. I have realized that It makes me less productive, as I keep getting distracted by other programs. Maybe, because I can only effectively do one thing at a time. I've a very limited attention span.

So, if you're like me. Don't bother with the multiscreen hype.

Whenever we seemed
To have found the answer to a question
One of us united the string of the old rolled-up
Chinese scroll on the wall, so that it fell down and
Revealed to us the man on the bench who
Doubted so much.

I, he said to us
Am the doubter. I am doubtful whether
The work was well done that devoured your days.
Whether what you said would still have value for anyone if it
Were less well said.
Whether you said it well but perhaps
Were not concvinced of the truth of what you said.
Whether it is not ambiguous;each possible misunderstanding
Is your responsibility. Or it can be unambiguous
And take the contradictions out of things; is it too
Unambiguous?
If so, what you say is useless. Your thing has no life in it.
Are you truly in the stream of happening? Do you accept
All that develops? Are you developing? Who are you? To
Whom
Do you speak? Who finds what you say useful? And , by the
Way:
Is it sobering? Can it be read in the morning?
Is it also linked to what is already there? Are the sentences
That were
Spoken before you made use of, or at least refuted? Is
Everything verifiable?
By experience? By which one? But above all
Always above all else: how does one act
If one believes what you say? Above all: how does one act?

Reflectively, curiously, we studied the doubting
Blue man on the scroll, looked at each other and
Made a fresh start.

Bertolt Brecht

Starting tomorrow, I'm sticking with a swimming plan, from www.swimplan.com. Even though I can swim well I'm starting off with a beginner plan. It sounds pretty good.

Duration 30-45 mins
Distance 1000m
Pool length 25m

Warm up

• 2 x 50m Freestyle Swim (even pace), rest 0:15 / 50m
Freestyle swim at a steady pace.

Build up (repeat 4 times)

• 1 x 25m Freestyle Breath Left, rest 0:10 / 25m
Freestyle swim, breathing only on your left side.
• 1 x 25m Freestyle Breath Right, rest 0:10 / 25m
Freestyle swim, breathing only on your right side.

Core

• 6 x 50m Freestyle DPS, rest 0:20 / 50m
Freestyle swim with maximum Distance Per Stroke (DPS). Concentrate on long, efficient strokes and a high streamlined body position to reduce drag in the water. Count your strokes per lap and try to reduce.
• 6 x 50m Freestyle Swim, rest 0:15 / 50m

Warm down

• 1 x 100m Freestyle Easy, rest 0:20 / 100m
Freestyle swim at a slow, relaxed pace.

when was the last time you walked on the road and kicked a stone like you did when you were a kid? Does it give you as much pleasure? (please tell me. Anonymously if you want to)

Yeah! I'm starting off on Wednesday ... I'll be in Pune on Wednesday. Bombay when I get bored of Pune, followed by Delhi. There are plans to do road trips in and around all the cities. if you're in anyone of the above and have nothing better to do. Ping me :).

Disappointing

Airports are strange places. Strangely boring that is.


 


Read yet another tale of my imbecility.

Do you love film noir? I want recommendations. I've got a list from IMDB. I don't trust that list at all.



Any links on shooting methodologies and lighting techniques for getting the noir feel would be awesome too.

I knew a girl once
she was the sunshine
and when she cried at nights
the wind stopped to listen to her
but even she'd be on her way once she had heard enough sobs
she was two miles of disaster on the road you take to work everyday
she was the bad apple
she was the evening gown no one wore
romance at short notice was her specialty
she sat in sadness and wondered if there is a god above
but now she sits and listens, and doesn't even cry, she never wonders, she's dead inside


***********


Brilliant revelation of the day: The Grammy is there to let people know what music to avoid. Jethro tull got a grammy and so did Justin Timberlake - they both suck. Santana produced amazing stuff for years and when he made that shite album with rob thomas he got a grammy. Hence proved, Grammy exists to tell us what music to avoid.

***********

Top reasons why Tull sucks:

1. Tull is gay. (No. I have nothing against homosexuals, and Tull is not a homosexual. He's gay like in the overtly pink nonsense)
2. He and his dog shared a very close relationship.
3. His music was used in Jumanji.
4. Atul Chitnis likes Tull.
5. He does pee pee peee for like 3 hours and all the old farts go Wow! man,


Yes! I know I'm mad.

That's right! You can go and attend The great Indian Developer Summit. Last I checked they had about forty sponsors. Seems just like the conference one should run away from. The dopes don't even know how to write JavaScrip, try the menus.

I tried the Fring pre beta for iPhone, it has the promise to become what pidgin is to me on the desktop, but, it's really buggy and lacks some really important features I wish they'd add before they release the beta or goto stable.



Crib 1: I can't tell if the other person is typing,

Crib 2: It forgets the chat history. When I exit fring it forgets all the history.

Crib 3: It dies off if left in the background. How am i supposed to browse and chat at the same time?

Crib 4: It does not do the horizontal view on iPhone. It's easier to type. and provides better readability, the phone is easier to hold that way, and most people browse in the horizontal view, doing both thing at once, I don't want to keep rotating the phone.

Crib 5: It does not hide off-line contacts, neither does it group the contacts.

Crib 6: I have to navigate through 3 screens to chat with multiple people. Surely they have heard of tabs, safari on iPhone allows tabs (of sorts), something similar should work.

Crib 7: Crashes whenever you try to make a call.

Update:
Crib 8: When I'm chatting with someone, I have to continue finding them in the whole list again and again. Keep current conversations sticky on top, or provide tabs.

It's a cool app, if only it'd do what I want.

The Perl Foundation is looking at giving some grants ranging from $500 to $3000 in May 2008. Checkout the call for proposal.