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checked out Wake up Sid on my TataSky. btw, the ordering experience on this cable box is like it was in the US about 10 years ago. you’ll have to subscribe and wait for it’s start time.

but the movie is fantastic. it’s not one of those movies that grabs you and demands attention. it is very consumable, allows you to sit back and comes to you slowly and steadily, leaving you with a great cinema viewing experience at the end of it.

ranbir kapoor seems to have employed two expressions in this movie – at once he has a petulant frown on his face and at other times, he’s this happy-as-a-clam fella. konkana sen sharma is fantastic, plays within the role and, what perfection. she probably should’ve played all those roles that go typically to vidya balan.

though it drags a bit towards the middle as it transitions from sid’s discovery of his self-worth to his discovery of his love for the lady. the script is very tightly and carefully written with no awkward jumps in narration and no wasted motions.

the story is about this rich brat that is a failure academically, and takes things for granted. it’s about how he meets the harsh realities of life outside the comfort zone of his dad’s business, and discovering his true passion in life. konkana sen sharma has her own story line, but the key element is for her to be the ‘guide’ for sid in his journey of discovery.

waiting to check out rocket singh. with shimit amin and co, it’s sure to be a good film.

if there are any arguments for algorithmic contextual advertising, this combination of a venerable publisher and a venerable ad-network should demonstrate how futile the model is. Wondering what the relationship is between office humor and “Adulteration Test Strips for SVT Specimens” is.

it appears like the testing system for Common Admission Test (the aptitude test for admission into Indian business schools) crashed on the first day it opened to students.

just look at the load pattern : 250,000 total test takers, taking the test over 10 days, spread across 105 testing centers, where they have 2 test sessions per day –> pretty much yields 12,500 concurrent test takers across the entire system, and 119 test takers/center.

Update: each test taker takes about 150 questions over a 3-hr period, so that’s about 1.875M transactions over 3 hrs, 173 transactions per sec. Can India not achieve THAT? What a shame.

not being able to handle this type of load pattern is outright pathetic. blaming it on a virus is even more tragic attempt at someone covering their butt with a transparent plastic sheet.

the folks that took the test wont get a credit if the entire testing method is invalidated. those that didn’t take the test need to go through the stress another time. those that took the test will stand at a disadvantage because the question bank gets leaked in nano-second.

Update 2: according to WATBlog, here’s the notice against leaking, provided to test takers: “Disclosing, publishing, reproducing, transmitting, storing, or facilitating transmission and storage of the contents of the CAT or any information therein in whole or part thereof in any form or by any means, verbal or written, electronically or mechanically for any purpose, shall be in violation of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and/or the Copyright Act, 1957 and/or the Information Technology Act“.

Are they really going to hit with an 1872 law?? really??

whoever deployed this solution should be fired for massive incompetence.

… and ironically, i found this ad in a newspaper couple of days ago. this is one sure way to solve all scalability problems – beg users to spare the system.

was shocked and saddened to see this email from my bank, touting a SIMPLE design. my first reaction was you call this simple? is this the state of design expertise in India?

You call THIS simple?

contrast the state of simplicity elsewhere – e.g. designing simple personal web pages made simple -

vimeo DirektSimple Personal Website Design