Sub-Zero

Was off to chicago for the thanksgiving break, had a good time checking out Sears tower, Museums and the Aquarium in and around downtown chicago. Also, managed to touch base with few relatives in chicago.

Sears tower quite an amazing piece of construction. Some facts about the Sears tower:

Built between 1970-1973
Height, 1450 feet
110 Floors
Second tallest building in the world
Still hold the record for Highest occupied floor
Enough Telephone cable to wrap the earth 1.5 times, phew !
Elevator travels at 1600 feet per minute
Weighs 222,500 Tons
Two blocks wide
Covers 4.5 million square feet
Pretty good view of the city from the 93rd floor (luckily the weather was good, the place sucks during overcast conditions)

Other tall buildings in the area; Amoco Building and John Hancock.
Lake Michigan man, give it to mother nature, it is not a lake it is a sea., a fresh water sea ! People around the lake are really blessed, wish chennai had one such lake.

Shedd Aquarium was good too, but we were in a hurry and could not take our time to actually educate ourselves about those exotic marine life. Dolphin show was good, but that was the time I was really fuming, turned red and virtually was releasing super heated steam through my ears. My digital camera battery drained at the right time, Murphy's law yet again. Surprisingly, my Canon s410 does not have a battery level indicator and this is a big downside with the model. Ended up shooting using a use-and-throw camera. Came a foot close to a Beluga white whale, quite a breath taking experiencing. Simply could not locate the Piranhas, desperately looked for it, though. And coming to chicago weather; it's horrible, was sub zero for most of the time. Downtown was windy and all those that carried an umbrella ended up using it with the curvature facing the sky.

Flew back from Chicago on sunday morning and took the public transport back home. That day seattle went sub zero all through sunday night and early monday. Got ready for office and went to my car. The car was all covered with ice, make no mistake, ICE not snow. Had to scrape off the ice using my subway card. In about 5 minutes lost sense on my fingures. Desperately looked for the car keys and tried to put it in the key hole and guess what, the key wouldn't go in :-)

The car was frozen, the moisture in the key hole froze and I could barely insert the key. Went back into my apartment, heated my key and tried my luck. There was some improvement, I could get the key in this time but could not turn it. Believe me literally had to shove the key back and forth so that the friction could create some heat and melt the ice inside. After struggling for about 20 minutes managed to unlock the doors. Phew ! that's what sub-zero can do to you.

Honing my photgraphy skills

Didn't know that my little canon s410 could do so many things. But, had to go through the grueling 100+ page manual to find that out. Anyways, it's worth going through the manual after having spent so much money on the camera. These are my babysteps towards professional photography :-)

Natch not "Naach"

Got little carried away with all that buzz about RamGopal Varma's "Naach", it turned out to be drab. I was particularly interested in checking out Antra Mali :-). Though, she isn't all that good looking she certainly has a sexy body. It takes a lot to get to that shape, really is no mean acheivement. She manages to do those hollywood heroines type stretching and flexing, remember Catherine Zeta Jone's extrodinary acrobatics in the movie "Entrapment", a similar
attempt. Of course can also be compared to "Slam Dance"(if I remember right) infact most of the scenes where she supposedly practices _dance_ are copied _verbatim_ from "Slam Dance".

The story though has been modified a little to suit much the bollywood idiosyncrasies.
The queer thing about the movie, the director boasts dance as an art form but the heroine barely dances in the movie. Most of her gestures and movements looked more like the chinese Qigong than any kind of dance form. If not the chinese exercise, it's the typical Antra Mali neck shake, remember she kept doing that in "Road", not sure if she likes doing that or the director. In fact it is a smart move by director, the slow _dance_ movements gives the camera man some carzy angles to shoot from, lucky guy :-)

Abishek Bachan looks really dumb in the movie, there is no significance to his character and thus no scope for a noticeable performance. A lot of money has gone into the movie, foreign locations, expensive sets but, none actually making any kind of difference to the movie. In fact all the song sequences looked like the typical Sports Illustrated videos :-)

Music is very typical of A.R.Rehman and is way ahead and futuristic for the bollywood folks. I doubt if most of the Mumbaih crowd would even be able to understand/appreciate the music. In all "Naach" is a total misnomer, but you can expect everything else that's typical of RMG productions. If compared with "Rangeela" Amir's little cameo role, that part is certainly lacking in this movie. According to me it's a complete waste of time.

As I wonder about the amount of time I am wasting these days, watching TV/Movies etc. , the only channel that's worth watching in this part of the world is Discovery Channel. Myth Busters, my favourite show on Discovery. As I type these lines, I am watching the Myth Busters trying to bust the myth/fact that quick sand actually can consume people and prove fatal, Interesting stuff huh !

Interesting Billboard !

This was sighted on ECR





Interesting to know that Pondichery is serious about promoting it's tourism Industry. I'd been to Pondichery once and it was just a flying visit,then, didn't have a chance to explore in detail. I was really entranced at the old buildings for a moment gave me a feeling like we time travelled few hundred years into the past. It was quite an experience and would love to explore more soon. A lot of my friends pay frequent visits to Pondi. for a different reason, though :-)

Ethana peru daa ippadi kelambi irukeenga ?

"

Dear Friend I am Mr. Dafe Akene,Branch Manager of Diamond bank of Nigeria, Ikeja Branch ,I have urgent and very confidential business proposition for you.

On June 8, 1999, a FOREIGN Oil Consultant/Contractorwith the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr.Barry Kelly made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit for twelve calendar months,valued at US$25,000,000.00 (Twenty- five Million Dollars) in my branch. Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month,we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation that Mr.Barry Kelly died from an automobile accident. On further investigation, I found out that he died without making a WILL, and all attempts to trace his next of kin to date has remained fruitless.I therefore made further investigation and discovered that Mr. Barry Kelly did not declare any kin or relations in all his official documents, including his Bank Deposit paperwork in my Bank. This sum of US$25,000,000.00 is still sitting in my Bank and the interest is being rolled over with the principal sum at the end of each year.

No one will ever come forward to claim it. According to Nigerian Law, at the expiration of 5 (five) years,the money will revert to the ownership of the Nigerian Government if nobody applies to claim the fund.Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a Foreigner to stand in as the next of kin to Mr.Barry Kelly so that the fruits of this old man’s labor will not get into the hands of some corrupt government officials. This is simple, I will like you to provide immediately your full names, address, telephone and fax numers so that the Attorney will prepare the necessary documents and affidavits, which will put you in place as the next of kin. We shall employ the service of two Attorneys for drafting and notarization of the WILL and to obtain the necessary documents and letter of probate/administration in your favor for the transfer.A bank account in any part of the world, which you will provide, will then facilitate the transfer of this money to you as the beneficiary/next of kin.

The money will be paid into your nominated account for us to share in the ratio of 50% for me, 40% for you and 10% to cover any accidental expenses on either sides during the course of this transaction.There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this transaction will be done by the Attorney and my position as the Branch Manager guarantees the successful execution of this transaction. If you are interested, please reply immediately via this email address(dafedb@walla.com OR dafe@tsamail.co.za } Upon yourresponse, I shall then provide you with more details and relevant documents that will help you understand the transaction better. Please observe utmost confidentiality, and rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I shall require your assistance to invest my share in your country. Looking forward to hearing from you soonest.Best regards,Dafe Akene

"