Satyajeet Kanetkar

Yearnest

Tell me love,
Where are you these days?
Do you not yearn to meet me,
As I do, you? read more ▷

Aug 17, 2023 ∙ 1 min read

Verifying Chaayos Customizations

Chaayos is an Indian chai brand that boasts “more than 80,000 customizations”. That number seems surprisingly large, so I did some basic math to see what allows them to make such a tall claim. read more ▷

Jul 1, 2023 ∙ 2 min read ∙ math, combinations

Diffluence

My love for you is conflicted,
not in its intensity
or in its surety,
but in what it would do to me.
For I have come undone
in ways far more than one.
It seems that only my love
or I will survive,
in this tussle to a certain demise. read more ▷

Apr 29, 2023 ∙ 1 min read

Lilies

The lilies wait in full bloom,
held in place by a vase. read more ▷

Apr 14, 2023 ∙ 1 min read

Ode To Ocho

Before you found me,
I didn’t know what caring was,
I had only felt it in glimpses and in parts.
Before you found me,
I didn’t know what a woman was,
Someone so gentle, yet a force to call.
Before you found me,
I had given up hope,
Of ever feeling a lady’s dote.
Before you found me,
I was a child with a whine,
Alone in the open wilderness of time. read more ▷

Jan 7, 2023 ∙ 3 min read

I Recommend Giving Up

Mon, 19th Sep, 11:41PM
I recommend giving up. Broadly speaking, it is one of the two options you have. And it is certainly the one with less pain or pleasure. If you can pull it off, make it quick, cheap and definite. Don’t get distracted, or you will linger on. read more ▷

Sep 25, 2022 ∙ 2 min read

Hedonism is Not Easy

Sat, 17th Sep, 11:16PM
They say that you should “write drunk, edit sober”. Well I’m pretty sure I’m drunk. Not on alcohol. No. I’ve had enough of that over the past few days. I’m numbed by the pain of loneliness. It slowly but steadily chips away at my soul. read more ▷

Sep 24, 2022 ∙ 3 min read

📚 Heaven's River - Dennis E. Taylor (2020)

As the latest entry in the Bobiverse series, Heaven’s River is a departure in narrative and length. It picks up a tangent of the first book where a Bob descendant named Bender sets out to travel into deep space without any means of FTL communication. read more ▷

Nov 6, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 All These Worlds - Dennis E. Taylor (2017)

Intended as a finale for the many plots that began and developed in the first two books, All These Worlds features an increased number of Bobs and Worlds, each with their own problems and personality quirks. read more ▷

Aug 31, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 For We Are Many - Dennis E. Taylor (2017)

Slightly shorter than the first book, For We Are Many closes some arcs, develops others and starts new ones. I’m currently in a binging phase of sorts, and hope to burn through the Bobiverse ASAP. read more ▷

Aug 8, 2021 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 We Are Legion (We Are Bob) - Dennis E. Taylor (2016)

The first of four books in the ‘Bobiverse’ series turns out to be a pleasant read. With a nice mix of self-aware AI action and space-travel, it is directed specifically at engineers and does a good job of it. While more popular in its audiobook form, I still went for the e-book version, being the Luddite I am. read more ▷

Aug 2, 2021 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★★☆

📚 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (1938)

Rebecca is as good an intro to Gothic fiction as it can get. The book is narrated through the eyes of a lowly servant girl who marries Maxim, the enigmatic owner of Manderley, a famed estate in the British countryside. She soon discovers a moody side of Max and various rumours surrounding the death of his previous wife: Rebecca. read more ▷

Jul 25, 2021 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★★☆

📚 Eight Worlds of C.M. Kornbluth - C.M. Kornbluth

Eight Worlds… is a collection of eight science-fiction short stories by C.M. Kornbluth, each of which were published during the 1950s. It is a quaint series, where you see varying predictions of the future from the perspective of an author whose world is yet to land on the moon or truly discover the computer. read more ▷

Jun 28, 2021 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★★☆

🎥 Palm Springs (2020)

Palm Springs is more in-line with the classic time-loop genre, where only the protagonist is aware of the time-loop, while everyone else is practically an NPC. It has two lead player characters which helps to create a far more involved plot, than what we usually see. read more ▷

Jun 27, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 50 First Dates (2004)

Featuring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, 50 First Dates is an interesting variation on the Groundhog Day trope. What matters though, is if the film truly develops the idea or simply uses it as just another plot device to spin out your usual rom-com. read more ▷

Jun 26, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Anna (2019)

Released in 2019, I hadn’t realized that Anna was a Luc Besson film. In hindsight, it’s very obvious that this film is a result of the same mind that was responsible for Taken. read more ▷

Jun 25, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Justice League (2017)

Justice League follows Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, both in terms of storyline as well as showing the audiences how badly a movie can fail if you try really hard. Essentially, a terrible film which repeats the same mistakes, and just makes me further compare DC to Marvel cinemas. read more ▷

Jun 24, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Featuring what could now be considered an ensemble cast, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a comedy about how any romantic relationship requires constant effort and can fizzle out, if not maintained. It spins a collection of common tropes and humorous skits in a way that results in something better. read more ▷

Jun 23, 2021 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Polar (2019)

Based on a webcomic by the same name, Polar is a Netflix production that will be pushed in your face until you give up and decide to click on it that one night when you were feeling a bit down and wanted a nice gunfight to cheer you up. read more ▷

Jun 22, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Wedding Crashers (2005)

Wedding Crashers is about two men who make a hobby of attending random weddings uninvited, with the intention of convincing women in varying emotional states to have sex with them. The film has some strong opinions about whether this is a good idea and makes it a point to hammer it into the audience. read more ▷

Jun 21, 2021 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Atomic Blonde (2017)

Released in 2017, Atomic Blonde takes its name from the late Cold War era setting and the protagonist spy. It amps up the action in exchange for narrative, which is a really hefty price to pay, given the two-hour runtime. read more ▷

Jun 20, 2021 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆

🎥 Kate And Leopold (2001)

Kate and Leopold is primarily a Meg Ryan flick featuring Hugh Jackman. Released in the early 2000s, it combines a surprising number of plot threads with a hint of time-travel, while still not feeling like a Back To The Future ripoff. read more ▷

Jun 19, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Nobody (2021)

Starring and produced by Bob Odenkirk, I picked this to watch after his work on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul (and Arrested Development). I was expecting something interesting and fun, plus I’d heard that he breaks out of his usual Saul character. At the same time I did not have really high hopes, based on what I’d seen in the trailer. read more ▷

Jun 18, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆

🎥 Superbad (2007)

With its place at the forefront of the teenage coming-of-age genre, Superbad effectively captures the teenage obsession with sex and alcohol along with the related perils. The heavy use of crude jokes and bodily humours reinforces the idea that the writers took the title as a challenge to their abilities. read more ▷

Jun 17, 2021 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Sixteen Candles (1984)

Sixteen Candles is a John Hughes teenage romance flick that I’d put in the backlog after watching Ferris Bueller. Released in 1984, it casually drops some offensive stereotypes and rapey stuff without batting an eye. read more ▷

Jun 15, 2021 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Cruel Intentions (1999)

Cruel Intentions is not your usual American high-school affair. The movie is set apart by its base material, a French novel from the late 1700s called ‘Les Liaisons dangereuses’. I’d wager that the book’s foundation is sturdy enough to let the movie muck around without breaking too many things. read more ▷

Jun 11, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 My Cousin Vinny (1992)

Two youths are incorrectly charged with a murder but all the circumstantial evidence points to them doing it. If the two are convicted, they will be put to death. The film does an alright job of putting the two in a situation that couldn’t have been a better setting for a comedy. read more ▷

Jun 10, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

Charting Range Vectors in Prometheus

In the previous blog post, we mentioned that Range Vectors cannot be charted. This blog post illustrates how we can work around the limitations and use Range Vectors in charts. We will also take a look at the actual Prometheus API and how it affects the visualization of these queries. read more ▷

Jun 9, 2021 ∙ 9 min read ∙ prometheus, observability

A Better Way to Inline Sass in Jekyll

If you want to inline Sass/CSS in Jekyll you usually have two options: either inline it yourself or use a gem like jekyll-assets. This blog has two Sass files which aren’t that big, so I prefer inlining them myself to keep the dependencies slim. There is a filter called scssify, but if you have more than a trivial number of posts, your build times will spike like crazy. read more ▷

May 29, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ruby, sass, jekyll

🎥 Legally Blonde (2001)

I’ve been told that Americans are obsessed with hair colour, somehow it is supposed to define one’s personality. So naturally, I was expecting a film questioning the legality of it all. You know, how a not-blonde woman tries to get legal recognition for her fake blonde hair? Don’t worry, it’s not that. :) read more ▷

May 26, 2021 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman (2017)

With a passing interest in superhero movies, I knew that some Marvel characters were based on Norse mythology. So, when this book was going for deep discount, it was only natural for me to pick it up. Written as a personal retelling of the different versions of the Norse folklore, it is reminiscent of Devdutt Pattnaik’s writing. read more ▷

Apr 7, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 The Cuckoo's Egg - Clifford Stoll (1989)

The Cuckoo’s Egg is a classic computer espionage mystery novel. Set in 1986 we see Clifford Stoll, an astronomer in Berkeley, try to uncover a $0.75 accounting error in their university computer system. This small error soon unravels a maze of trails left behind by a Hacker in the system. read more ▷

Apr 2, 2021 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink and Leif Babin (2015)

I picked this book up, after a friend on twitter mentioned really wanting to gift their copy to a famous politician. What I discovered was a no-nonsense book talking about how to fix your leadership problems. read more ▷

Mar 28, 2021 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆

🎥 Dr. Strangelove (1964)

On first viewing, this Kubrick satire can seem as confusing as its title. But some persistence and exploration on the part of the viewer reveals overtly sexual themes coupled with cold-war era nuclear anxiety to provide a mind-boggling ending. read more ▷

Mar 7, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★★★ ∙ spoilers

📚 Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain (2000)

A recollection of memories by a celebrity chef before the celebrity, Kitchen Confidential tries to be a curt guide and a memoir, achieving only mild success in both. The book’s “courses” focus on different parts of Bordon’s professional career as cook and then a chef. read more ▷

Feb 28, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 The Island of Doctor Moreau - H.G. Wells (1896)

This is perhaps the lesser known of the H.G. Wells sci-fi books. The premise however, is as amusing and groundbreaking for its time as the rest of his books. You can think of Dr. Moreau as the O.G. mad scientist who somehow has an entire Island at his disposal to carry out his experiments. read more ▷

Jan 29, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Scott Pilgrim must defeat his new girlfriend’s seven Exes, so that he may continue dating her. Defeat as in literally beat them up, in proper video game style with dramatized kung-fu and glittery special effects. Why? Just shut up and play along. read more ▷

Jan 26, 2021 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📺 BoJack Horseman - An Attempt at a Thematic Analysis

We’d already seen a flurry of blog posts, videos and essays trying to deconstruct the success of Netflix’s “BoJack Horseman”. I too, finished watching the last season last year and really felt like commenting my version of the show. read more ▷

Jan 15, 2021 ∙ 10 min read ∙ tv-review, animation ∙ spoilers

Understanding Prometheus Range Vectors

Range Vectors in Prometheus are a bit non-intuitive, unless you’ve thoroughly read and understood the documentation. Who does that? One is supposed to spend time doing it incorrectly, then look for random blog posts like this one to understand how open source software works, right? read more ▷

Jan 4, 2021 ∙ 6 min read

📚 The Now Habit - Neil Fiore (1988)

“The Now Habit” is about a very specific and important part of the general idea of habit formation. It talks about the importance of self-image and illustrates the non-intuitive idea of why perfectionism is an undesirable quality. read more ▷

Dec 12, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★★☆

Invoking a gem With a Specific Version

Say, like a good citizen of the Ruby world, you’re using rbenv or the like to manage your application’s ruby version. You also write down your deps in a nice Gemfile, locked down in a Gemfile.lock. Then one day, you clone an old ruby repo and proceed to run bundle install only to find this message: Bundler::LockfileError: You must use Bundler 2 or greater with this lockfile.. read more ▷

Dec 10, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ruby, gem, bundler

Configuring Consul Leave Behaviour

Consul has a couple configuration options that allow operators to configure the behaviour when the agent is asked to shut down. Understanding these is important for predictable cluster operation. read more ▷

Nov 27, 2020 ∙ 4 min read

🎥 Sinister (2012)

Sinister is categorized as a “snuff” film, which means that we’re going in with the knowledge that one or more people are going to die, on screen. That too in a brutal manner, otherwise there’s no horror element. Given the expectation the “art” remains in the style of depiction, plot intrigue and character tension. read more ▷

Sep 12, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019)

Having seen the Pokémon anime, I went into this expecting a bunch of Pokémon trainers, a gym fight and all those fancy aspirations of becoming the world’s best Pokémon trainer. It instead was an orthogonal adventure that sneakily incorporated all of the above while still being a typical defeat-the-bad-guy adventure. read more ▷

Sep 5, 2020 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Delhi Belly (2011)

Named after the stomach bugs that affect white people visiting India. This is a classic MacGuffin chase enhanced by bawdy humour and the sheer grossness of some of the characters. If you have the appetite, you might enjoy this one. read more ▷

Sep 3, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Two Night Stand (2014)

A mundane exploration of an equally mundane scenario that is as unambitious as its characters. The movie hopes to be a commentary on hookup culture, but gives up about halfway into the plot. read more ▷

Aug 15, 2020 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Drive (2011)

Drive is the story of a part-time stuntman, car mechanic and night-time heist getaway driver. What we see are his attempts to save his innocent neighbor from the wrong people. read more ▷

Aug 13, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Ender's Game (2013)

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite science-fiction books. Set in the future, humanity has already fended off an attack by an alien species called the “Formics”. The Humans are now preparing a direct offense against their civilization. read more ▷

Aug 12, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 The Tartar Steppe - Dino Buzzati (1940)

Published in 1940, The Tartar Steppe is a haunting walk-through of a life wasted away in wait of an opportunity that never arises. Think of it as a manual on what not to do when you’re stuck in a lifeless job with the perpetual hope of things improving at some point in the future. read more ▷

Aug 10, 2020 ∙ 5 min read ∙ ★★★★★ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Rajnigandha (1974)

A relic of the seventies, “Rajnigandha” is a gentle walk-through of the emotional turmoil experienced by a twenty-two year old woman when she unexpectedly meets an old flame. read more ▷

Aug 9, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 The Martian (2015)

Based on The Martian a sci-fi novel by Andy Weir, this movie tries to build a narrative around how the scientific method is the only thing that will save humans, when in space. Astronaut Mark Watney is marooned on Mars due to a dust storm, which causes his team to think that he’s dead. They’re already heading back towards the earth and now he must fend for himself on the red planet. read more ▷

Aug 8, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 The Interview (2014)

The Interview is a fictionalised, gory and toilet humour riddled depiction of an interview with Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea. A supposed political satire which also took the form of irony when it had to make a bunch of cuts and edits in order to appease the very government it was mocking. read more ▷

Aug 7, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 She's Gotta Have It (1986)

A piece of romantic drama interspersed with supposed bits of comedy. Set in the Brooklyn of the eighties we see the evolution of various romantic relationships of a woman living on her own in the city. read more ▷

Aug 6, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Insidious (2010)

A horror movie that keeps you as clueless as its characters. Delivers reliable jump scares and occult visuals forming what is the beginning of an aptly uneasy but hopefully entertaining range of movies. read more ▷

Aug 5, 2020 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of the most iconic teen comedies of all time. It achieves this reputation through the portrayal of the ideal smart-ass teen in the form of Ferris Bueller, who cuts through most teenage problems with his charm, confidence and a knack for fooling adults. read more ▷

Aug 4, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

Bridget is a 32 year old single woman facing various societal pressures to get married. This leads to Bridget taking stock of her life and deciding to find the “right” man for herself. Her approach to this problem is narrated through the pages of her diary. read more ▷

Aug 3, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Captain Marvel (2019)

Captain Marvel has the distinguishing feature of being the first leading female superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The character has blonde hair, a sassy edge and the ability kick butt. But what makes the character special, remains to be seen. read more ▷

Aug 2, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

This is the second installment of the “Fantastic Beasts” series featuring Newt Scamander and is a part of the “wizarding world” of JK Rowling. Intent on setting up Grindelwald as a high profile antagonist in the future films, we see the movie start an array of plots and subplots, each executed with varying levels of competency. None of which come close to be even called functioning. read more ▷

Aug 1, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

The second Avengers film made it standard to have both a giant and a tiny Ant-Man. So, this iteration of Ant-Man does all that and also introduces a second flying tiny superhero called “The Wasp”. All this to impress an audience that is already fazed after the events of Infinity War. read more ▷

Jul 31, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Zombieland (2009)

Zombieland is a goofy undead movie first, an existential one second and finally a comedy as well. It has a penchant for breaking the fourth wall, often through the use of on-screen text as props to aid audience recollection. This makes it a primary member of the “zom-com” genre. read more ▷

Jul 30, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Written around the concept of virginity as something that can be “lost”, the movie is a portrayal of the range of reactions from various people as a result of finding a sexually inexperienced man in his forties. read more ▷

Jul 29, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Two Weeks Notice (2002)

“Two Weeks Notice” comes close to a well executed romantic comedy. It gets more than a few things right including the casting, the screenplay, the classic push & pull tension, respectable sidekicks and ties up all the loose ends successfully. read more ▷

Jul 28, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Miss Congeniality (2000)

Grace Hart is a tough FBI officer who ironically lacks but one quality: Grace. One could go further and claim that she’s an affront to grace, well into the territory of inelegance. Fortunately for her job, this has zero consequences since these qualities are well suited for a workaholic detective. read more ▷

Jul 27, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Officer Downe (2016)

This regrettable piece of art is based off of a graphic novel with the same name. As the trailer makes it abundantly clear, it is about a zombified “supercop” who delivers his own brand of “justice” in a crime infested city. In other words, every superhero ever. read more ▷

Jul 26, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Along Came Polly (2004)

“Along Came Polly” is the story of one Polly, who comes along and relieves a non-confrontational insurance worker from his mental habit of magnifying the more coarser aspects of humans around him. read more ▷

Jul 21, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Office Space (1999)

Office Space is essentially about boredom at work. How most people hate their jobs and will do the bare minimum needed to not get fired. This is especially visible at larger companies, where the incentives of the employer do not always align with those of the employees. read more ▷

Jul 20, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Avengers: Endgame (2019)

It is not everyday that a movie has the chief responsibility of closing eleven years worth of character arcs, plot lines and roles. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the epic conclusion to what was dubbed the “Infinity Saga”, took more than a single deliverable film. “Endgame” is the second of two movies which were produced together, but is very different from its precursor. read more ▷

Jul 19, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Do villains need an origin story? That’s the question that this movie tries to answer. Every major superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has had at least one entire big-budget film dedicated to this idea. Given that this movie feature an ensemble cast of characters, it is important to have an antagonist that challenges each superhero to their limit, but at the same time is not just some overpowered brute. read more ▷

Jul 16, 2020 ∙ 6 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Baby Driver (2017)

Baby Driver is a heist movie. This means that like all the other ones, it has a “crew”. In addition to the “mastermind”, the crew usually has a bunch of specialists for the myriad tasks that are part of any half-decent heist. Our story focuses on the “getaway driver” specialization à la the “Transporter” range of movies. read more ▷

Jul 14, 2020 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett (1987)

This is the third published Discworld novel. It is a quick read, set in the fantastic land of Discworld, set upon the backs of four elephants, who’re standing on the back of the great cosmic turtle: A’Tuin. Mixed in with light subversion of gender tropes, the venerable humorist’s prose will make you think while you laugh. read more ▷

Jul 13, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

This is another fine delivery from the pen of Madame Ephron. “When Harry Met Sally…” as overtly promised in the title, is the depiction of what was a long-winded courtship between one Harry Burns and a Sally Albright. The period lasts for about twelve years and is now considered to be a classic member of the Will-They-Won’t-They club. But of course, like most members of this club, they most certainly do. read more ▷

Jul 12, 2020 ∙ 5 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service - Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal (2012)

For those like me who didn’t know, Mossad is Israel’s counterpart of the usual three letter secretive organisations from other countries. This book is a compilation of the various high stakes missions that this organisation has undertaken since the formation of Israel as a country in the forties. read more ▷

May 31, 2020 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

Locale issues when SSHing into a VM

I recently had an issue with the LC_CTYPE locale variable being set to an invalid value. I searched the complete machine for where it could be set, but was unable to find the configuration location. Further investigation led to the revelation that my local OSX machine config was causing the error on the remote host. read more ▷

May 29, 2020 ∙ 5 min read ∙ linux, osx

📺 Star Trek - The Ultimate Computer - S2E24

A computer called M5 built by the scientist Daystrom is being tested out on the Enterprise. The implication of its success being that a starship no longer requires a crew, let alone a captain. We see the computer manoeuvre the starship through an unscheduled test encounter successfully. read more ▷

Apr 12, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ tv-review, star-trek ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

Spotting Consecutive Integers

A useful technique that stumped me on a couple of proofs recently was the idea of “consecutive integers”. A friend had the following proposition: The result of subtracting a number from its cube is divisible by $3$ . read more ▷

Jan 15, 2020 ∙ 3 min read ∙ Math, Proofs

Arbitrarily Large Prime Gaps

If $n \in N$ and $n \geq 2$ , then the numbers $[n! + 2, n! + 3, n! + 4, \dots, n! + n]$ are all composite. Thus for any $n \geq 2$ , we can find $n - 1$ consecutive composite numbers. The implication here being that there are arbitrarily large “gaps” between prime numbers. read more ▷

Jan 1, 2020 ∙ 2 min read ∙ Math, Proofs, Prime Numbers

Deducing prime factors through elimination

I recently found this interesting proof technique that uses a combination of deductive reasoning and integer factorization. The prompt goes something like this: If $p$ is prime and $k \in Z$ for which $0 < k < p$ , then $p$ divides $(\binom{p}{k})$ . read more ▷

Dec 29, 2019 ∙ 2 min read ∙ Math, Proofs, Prime Numbers

🎥 Venom (2018)

The “Venom” is an alien symbiote who needs a host to live on earth. Brought to the planet by an evil Elon Musk, he intends to fuck over everybody but then mellows out after finding a suitable host with conveniently gray morals. Clearly wanting the whole planet for himself, he then decides to kill his “team leader” “Riot” to prevent him from bringing his whole species down on the earth. read more ▷

Dec 7, 2019 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Get Smart (2008)

Have you ever wanted to witness Michael Scott actually live out one of his secret spy fantasies (AKA Michael Scarn)? Well you’re in luck. That’s literally what this movie is. read more ▷

Jul 5, 2019 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

Why I Write Reviews

Over the past few months, I’ve been getting much less time to write reviews about all the books I’ve been reading. I’ve completely stopping watching any new movies given the whole backlog of reviews that I have. Even when I try to force myself to write, I takes some time to get into the groove and much longer to write anything meaningful about a book or a film. I’d also been pondering writing about other things, like my life or thoughts about the random things in life. read more ▷

Mar 20, 2019 ∙ 3 min read ∙ personal, creative

📚 Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefèvre (1923)

Happened to read this book around the peak of the blockchain frenzy. I went in expecting some insight on how stock markets worked, instead what I found was a romanticised recounting of a stock operator. I later found out he killed himself. read more ▷

Feb 3, 2019 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

I’m not scared to admit that I watch romantic movies when I am feeling lonely. They make me feel nice, probably because of the vicarious effect it has on me. That’s also probably the primary target demographic, you just make these movies for them and they feel good just seeing them. read more ▷

Jan 11, 2019 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Sleeping With Other People (2015)

Two college mates mate for the first time and then part. Meet twenty years later with all kinds of issues and then try to resolve them with each other’s help and become good friends. read more ▷

Dec 23, 2018 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Andhadhun (2018)

It is not everyday that you see a movie with a real underlying theme executed so well in Bollywood. Andhadhun seems like it approaches one of those. read more ▷

Dec 1, 2018 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

Room

It was the longest I’d stayed away from home. About ten months had passed since I’d spent any time in Nagpur. Back for a Diwali vacation, I was planning to stay for a week or so. read more ▷

Nov 2, 2018 ∙ 2 min read ∙ personal, creative

🎥 Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Marvel’s new rendition of Spiderman is fresher, shorter, younger, freckler, pimpler, funner?, whatever. He swings in the suburbs instead of skyscrapers and attends a high school instead of a college. read more ▷

Nov 1, 2018 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

The eighth episode in the Star Wars saga. I went in half excited and half hoping they wouldn’t screw it up. As much as I hate to say it, here goes: I TOLD YOU SO. It is pretty bad, and given that it is Star Wars, you’ll never hear the end of it. read more ▷

Oct 18, 2018 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Green Lantern (2011)

Based on the chlorophyllous Lanterns from the DC comics house, the film was universally panned as a terrible adaptation. There may be a chance that it received a bit too much criticism. Closer evaluation should reveal that it is not much different from other superhero movies of its time. In fact, it does a few common things very differently from others. read more ▷

Oct 6, 2018 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Max Payne (2008)

The name might sound cheesy now, but it always was. Even for a hardboiled detective video game. Unless of course you were the first one, which this one was not even close to. The movie wants you to think it is about guns and epic bullet battles, but don’t let it fool you. It is a step by step how-to of how not to make a detective movie. read more ▷

Oct 5, 2018 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 It (2017)

A movie with a weird two letter name, if you know how It works, then you know what’s gonna happen. Based on a book by Stephen King (who is said to have written really great ones). It is also a remake of a movie that originally came out in 1990. read more ▷

Sep 23, 2018 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Badmaash Company (2010)

Movie depicts a bunch of youths who want to become rich for various reasons. They begin smuggling electronics from Thailand before moving on to exploit systemic loopholes in various organizations and social contracts in order to make money illegally. read more ▷

Jun 16, 2018 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Lights Out (2016)

Most horror movies are the same. That’s too little innovation in a field where there is potential for so much more. Beyond traditional jump scares, disfigured humans and plain old gore, there’s not much to reliably scare a large percentage of people. read more ▷

Feb 4, 2018 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells (1897)

I think almost all sci-fi is social sci-fi because it otherwise would have to be science-fact or simply bullshit. This book can be spotted on almost every bookshelf under the classics section and on every ‘to read’ list you can find. Though I’ve never actually met anybody who has read the book. read more ▷

Jan 30, 2018 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 A Game of Thrones - G.R.R. Martin (1996)

I began the series after seeing all the seven seasons of the television adaptation. About halfway through I regretted starting the book because I always knew what was going to happen and reading it happen again wasn’t really helping or adding much to the original experience. read more ▷

Jan 30, 2018 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★★ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Aparichit (Anniyan) (2005)

I haven’t seen many Tamil movies, translated or otherwise. This one however receives a lot of air time on Hindi movie channels for some reason. While I hadn’t seen it completely in one go, it had an interesting concept given the time it came out. After finally seeing it, I can say it turned out to be far more hilarious and much less thrilling. It might even need a genre reassignment surgery. read more ▷

Jan 20, 2018 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Hardcore Henry (2015)

There comes a time when a man chooses a movie out of pure randomness. I happened upon this movie and chose to watch it merely because of the poster. The flaws in that method were reminded to me much sooner than I’d expected. read more ▷

Jan 20, 2018 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Wonder Woman (2017)

It is becoming a challenge to write a superhero movie review these days. My amateur techniques are already falling apart and it is harder to write distinct reviews for movies that are so similar to each other. I await a time when people get tired of the moribund CGI bling that these films have become. read more ▷

Jan 15, 2018 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Logan (2017)

The much awaited finale to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Logan is an A-rated flick with no holds barred cursing, blood and gore. It feels much closer to Wolverine’s essence than any film before it. read more ▷

Jan 15, 2018 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 Meet Mr. Mulliner - P.G. Wodehouse (1927)

Angler’s Rest, a pub(-lic house) in London, is the hangout spot of the author and the titular Mr. Mulliner. His stories of all the weird things that happen with his relatives are a source of constant amusement to the author and other patrons. Having always heard people mention that Wodehouse was their favorite English humour, I decided to give it a shot. read more ▷

Dec 4, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ spoilers

📚 The Lean Startup - Eric Ries (2011)

This is the second of the two most recommended readings for anyone doing anything even remotely startup related (the other being Zero to One). read more ▷

Nov 27, 2017 ∙ 4 min read

[Event] PyCon India 2017 - New Delhi

This was my third PyCon India, the first two being PyCon India 2015 and 2016. Unlike the last two times, I had planned better and had a full day before and after the conference to spend in New Delhi and check things out. read more ▷

Nov 21, 2017 ∙ 19 min read

🎥 Weekend at Bernie's (1989)

I first heard about Weekend at Bernie’s when I found out that Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro was inspired by it. I really enjoyed the Indian work and wanted to see if its stimulus was any good. read more ▷

Aug 22, 2017 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Sleeping Beauty (2011)

Intentionally named after the well known children’s tale of a girl who is molested in her sleep. This version is not much different except for the pre-emptive knowledge and monetary exchange after the fact. read more ▷

Aug 21, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Touted as the much awaited sequel to the first volume, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 appears with the same circus pack of alien humanoids and similar galactic scale events of destruction. read more ▷

Aug 21, 2017 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Kahaani (2012)

Unlike most bollywood movies, this one begins with a chemical weapon genocide in the Kolkata metro of all places. One is led to believe that the whole plot is going to be about this initial chaos but it soon becomes irrelevant for most part. read more ▷

Aug 20, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Ardh Satya (1983)

Happened to see this movie in memoriam Om Puri. I was told that this was a really great ‘art’ film ( as opposed to a commercial one). Named after a short poem by Dilip Chitre, it is a cop’s story that depicts his struggle against the corruption of values. read more ▷

Jul 10, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 Animal Farm - George Orwell (1945)

While intended as a satire of the Russian revolution, I think this book has far wider applications. It delivers the quintessential communist microcosm in an amazingly crisp but understandable manner. read more ▷

Jul 9, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★★ ∙ spoilers

🎥 The Intern (2015)

It is always fun to see the old boy in a new suit trope in action. This one comes with a retired Robert de Niro in a suite, complete with the gawking faces of onlookers, an workplace romance and him being a champ at his job.. ahem internship. read more ▷

Jul 8, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Dil Dhadakne Do (2015)

I’ve been told that Farhan Akhtar has a reputation for making movies about rich people. This seems to be a continuation of the trend. read more ▷

May 29, 2017 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 About Cherry (2012)

How a girl with conventionally good looks enters the adult entertainment industry. It doesn’t work as she’d planned but then at the end everything is okay because her ex-boyfriend is a druggie asshat, she catches her best friend masturbating to her own porn, but then doesn’t understand why he is doing it and finally becomes the lesbian partner of her porn producer/director. read more ▷

May 25, 2017 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 Jaya - Devdutt Pattanaik (2010)

An amalgamation of the various versions of the Mahabharat, consolidated by one Mr. Pattanaik. This version encourages one to achieve inner peace in their life, but portrays how people actually end up doing the completely opposite in their life. read more ▷

Apr 25, 2017 ∙ 3 min read ∙ spoilers

🎥 9 Songs (2004)

As is evident from the poster, the movie is a full sixty-nine minutes of sex and rock-n-roll music. It looks like an art film of sorts, where the focal point is the sexual relationship between a man and a woman and their shared enthusiasm for attending rock music concerts. read more ▷

Apr 19, 2017 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett (1983)

Having looked at various recommended reading orders and the litany of books that is Discworld, I am unsure if I will ever be able to read through Sir Pratchett’s legacy. Having decided to at least taste the series, I started with the first book, ‘The Colour of Magic’. read more ▷

Apr 11, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

This movie depicts the events that take place parallel to the original 300. The other side of the story where Leonidas’s brother is preparing for war against the forces of Xerxes’s sister. read more ▷

Apr 10, 2017 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆

🎥 Sully (2016)

I had no clue of the events following the mildly amusing news that a plane had successully landed on the Hudson river. It didn’t seem like a big deal back in 2009, partly because it didn’t take place in my home country and otherwise because I am not an aeronautics geek. This movie portrays the investigation that followed the plane crash. read more ▷

Apr 9, 2017 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★★☆

🎥 Boss Baby (2017)

Cute things. This is not Hollywood’s first attempt to pitch two species against each other. There have been quite a lot of movies that try to embattle cats vs dogs, mice vs cats, aliens vs predators; all in an effort to attract cute-chasers. In classic American capitalist fashion, everything in the movie world comes out of a corporation. And this movie becomes the story of BabyCorp vs PuppyCo. read more ▷

Apr 8, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Life (2017)

Survival Horror. The genre that doesn’t need a story. All you need to do is bring a cast of big names on board and kill them one by one. Where how great a movie is, is defined by the most creative way the director can come up to kill a beloved actor and his career. read more ▷

Apr 6, 2017 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki (1997)

This book made a lot of waves back in 2000 when it came out. People were recommending it left and right. Most of what the book claims makes sense and is probably common knowledge in certain circles. read more ▷

Mar 30, 2017 ∙ 1 min read

📚 Zero to One - Peter Thiel (2014)

I started reading this book after having already attempted ( what felt like) a startup and working in a new one right now. The best way to keep up with this book is constant mental questions and thinking about how you’ve been thinking before. An good exercise is to evaluate your own experience or companies that you’ve seen closely as you read through the various ideas presented in this book. read more ▷

Mar 30, 2017 ∙ 4 min read

📚 Sultan - Mahesh Elkunchwar (1989)

This is a collection of one act plays; another recommendation from my Mother as a nice way to get used to Elkunchwar’s style. The book is named after the first play and the name seems unrelated to the remaining ones. read more ▷

Mar 24, 2017 ∙ 4 min read ∙ spoilers

🎥 Bajirao Mastani (2015)

This is another Sanjay Leela Bhansali flick that I managed to pull through (the other being Ramleela). read more ▷

Mar 10, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Another day, another Marvel movie. This one is no different with its plot if you leave the setting alone. Funny in a formulaic way, it manages to keep you entertained with its trademark spectacles. read more ▷

Mar 4, 2017 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 Ranga Half-Pants - Suman Kumar (2016)

The book’s name and cover led me into believing that it was about how Ranga got his full-pants but that’s only half the book. You have to read the synposis to find out about the other half, which is a different tale set in the same village. read more ▷

Feb 23, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

I’d expected the movie to portray how the namesake book came about in the Wizarding World: a jolly adventure through ‘murica messing around with fantastic animals. But it soon becomes a lengthy detour back to the ‘dark side’ of the wizarding world. read more ▷

Jan 26, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

Thunderbird Mail Merge addon Quirks

Just decided to put this out there and save an hour for anybody trying to figure out why the Mail Merge addon won’t work for them. read more ▷

Jan 18, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ software

🎥 The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

Once released, the ingenious trailer sparked quite a few interesting reactions. My mother, an animal lover basically kept enquiring throughout the year of whether the movie had released. The teaser promised a different perspective on an otherwise unsuspecting concept. read more ▷

Jan 3, 2017 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆

🎥 Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)

The first movie in the Hitman franchise was bad enough to also make it the last. As a fan of the Hitman series of games, I can say that it did not capture any of the Hitman ‘essence’ and also failed at being a good action movie. Naturally, I was quite surprised when they announced another Hitman movie. I hoped that they would do good on atleast one of the fronts and get things right this time. read more ▷

Dec 3, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Inferno (2016)

The name Inferno and the fact that Dan Brown is involved should be enough to tell you that the movie is about Dante. I am tempted to think that Dan Brown is becoming greedy or being coaxed by his publishers or employing ghost writers, because of the lack of experimentation in the Langdon recipe. read more ▷

Nov 28, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 One Thousand Days in a Refrigerator: Stories - Manoj Kumar Panda (2016)

We’ve been told to not judge a book by its cover. I, for some reason, always took it in the sense that one shouldn’t think a book is bad because of its cover. Never had I ever seen a bad book with a good cover. Well, there’s always a first time. read more ▷

Nov 23, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Doctor Strange (2016)

This movie reminds me of Ant-Man, a different take on the superhero. It is very clearly a Marvel film and also quite unlike one. You have all the familiar trademarks including the predictable but funny jokes, the disposable villians to support the origin story, a genius but sassy protagonist and of course a post credits scene. But it also comes with a fairly new visual style, less romance and the supposed attraction of casting Benedict Cumberbatch. read more ▷

Nov 12, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 Why I Am Not a Hindu - Kancha Ilaiah (1996)

For the uninitiated, this can be a very eye-opening read. For others, it is an amusing treatment that spends quite some time establishing theories. I belong to the former category and I concede that this book made me look more closely at the caste system in India; something that I’d managed to ignore for quite some time now. read more ▷

Oct 7, 2016 ∙ 5 min read

🎥 Happy Bhag Jayegi (2016)

Happy is a go-lucky girl, whose escapist habits result in a botched wedding and her ending up in Pakistan. She literally bolts out of awkward situations with express disregard to the outcome, which is abundantly taunted in the film. read more ▷

Oct 1, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 You've Got Mail (1998)

You’ve got mail is basically “Love in the time when email was vogue”. It is set in the period when email and Instant Messaging (IM) had just entered the general public’s usage and were common enough that most people would get it without much explanation. read more ▷

Sep 29, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Groundhog Day (1993)

A movie with an amusing premise where a TV meteorologist Phil Connors, keeps reliving literally the same day again and again indefinitely. The general idea has probably been abused by, inspired and influenced quite a few other films since its release. read more ▷

Sep 1, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Back to the Future II (1989)

As a sequel to a really well done movie and given the 4 years of waiting, this one probably had a lot of fans and stakeholders to satisfy. I presume that it was probably a much harder problem to solve because unlike the previous movie, the filmmakers didn’t have any reference to work with. They have no idea of how the future turns out and are going to rely entirely on the predictions of the writers. read more ▷

Aug 29, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams (1982)

The third installment in the series, Life, the Universe and Everything continues the pan-universal adventure of one earthman Arthur Dent. As bizzare and british as its predecessors it tries to resolve Arthur’s search for the question to the answer of The Life, Universe and Everything else. read more ▷

Aug 24, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★★☆

🎥 Back to the Future (1985)

This movie is often listed as one of the best time travel movies. I’d watched this movie in bits and pieces before but never as a whole. The movie is as they say, light, and can act as a decent introduction to the concept of time travel. read more ▷

Aug 21, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★★★ ∙ spoilers

📚 वनवास - प्रकाश नारायण संत (1994)

This is the first real Marathi book that I’ve read. It discusses the childhood village life of लंपन, a character that represents the author’s childhood self. read more ▷

Aug 17, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★★★

🎥 YZ (2016)

Gajanan is a 33 year old teacher who has self-esteem issues. Things take a turn when he meets one of his unnaturally confident students who runs by the name of बत्तीस (32). The movie is named after “YZ”, a पुणेरी slang word. However it puts a different spin on the idea and has its own philosophy on what exactly a YZ attitude is. read more ▷

Aug 16, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Dirty Grandpa (2016)

Essentially a barrage of dirty jokes first from Robert de Niro and then from the rest of the cast. read more ▷

Aug 14, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆

🎥 Suicide Squad (2016)

Suicide Squad is a menagerie of not-so-covert convicted criminals, who have been tamed to fight other criminals because it is such a good idea. It runs on the belief that two wrongs can make a right. A character literally says that defeating the villain will remove 10 years off their sentences. The movie takes place after Superman is (not?) dead and Batman is in the process of forming Justice League. read more ▷

Aug 14, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Zootopia (2016)

On the cover, Zootopia may appear to be a lazy play of words, a rehashed cobbling of a buddy cop story with added anthropomorphic animals; all the makings of an average film. In reality, it is all that along with an intelligently written satire with pop culture references that keeps both the kids and grownups engaged throughout the film. read more ▷

Jul 5, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Udta Punjab (2016)

Regardless of whether people like or hate this movie, it is different from the usual fare you’ll find in Bollywood. As may not be readily apparent from the title, the movie is about the problem of rampant drug addiction in the Indian state of Punjab. It is a well known fact that it is a systemic problem; one that cannot be fixed overnight or through the efforts of a few individuals. The movie depicts three sets of people who have encountered drug problems in various ways and how their stories converge in a disturbing fashion. read more ▷

Jul 3, 2016 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 John Wick (2014)

Retired hitman John Wick receives a dog from his dying wife as a final gesture to help him cope with her death. His mourning is cut short when he crosses paths with the local kingpin Viggo Tarasov’s son, who breaks into his house, kills the dog and steals his car. Obviously this isn’t taken lightly by Mr Wick and the bloody quest to exact revenge is on. read more ▷

Jun 28, 2016 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Spotlight (2015)

I don’t know what these kinds of movies are called but they sure do make investigative journalism look like an intriguing job. The last movie in this genre that I’d seen was The Insider and this one is equally shocking and bound to attract regular gasps from the audience. The movie portrays the Boston Globe’s Spotlight journalist team’s investigation into the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Boston. read more ▷

Jun 25, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Ant-Man (2015)

Ant-Man has the unconventional superpower of being able to shrink in size and grow back on demand; and the ability to control real ants. With a modest attempt at a scientific explanation, the movie runs with what it has and delivers a comic superhero capable of making the audience sympathize with the death of a single ant. read more ▷

Jun 20, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📺 Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (2016)

Having seen the first three seasons I was expecting more abuse of the mind palace, even more unbelievable cases and more of Moriarty. Turns out I was right. read more ▷

Jun 18, 2016 ∙ 3 min read ∙ tv-review ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Masaan (2015)

This is one of those films that begins with a major bait and then slowly reels-in the audience. It begins with a suicide and seems like it is setting up for one of those well publicised murder/suicide trials and the shock value that comes with it. read more ▷

Jun 13, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★★☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Romantic comedy plots have a tendency to be highly predictable and this one is no exception. I suppose there’s a really fine line between a romantic comedy and a romantic cringey. read more ▷

Jun 13, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

This is probably going to be the last comic book movie I watch without proper pre-evaluation. There is literally nothing new in the movie. Bland would be an understatement. read more ▷

May 27, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆

🎥 Captain America: Civil War (2016)

I haven’t read any of the comic books and so am not a fan of the Avengers. I can’t help but compare this movie to Batman v Superman. Both movies were released roughly at the same time and deal with the problem of collateral damage and the accountability of superheroes. read more ▷

May 15, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand (1943)

It is almost impossible to have not heard enthusiastic mentions of The Fountainhead before you start it. Consequently it is also impossible to have not formed a notion of how the book might be. This plays both for and against the book’s experience. read more ▷

May 6, 2016 ∙ 6 min read ∙ ★★★★★ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

The central theme of this movie is the idea of an immortal God versus the intelligent human. It should be evident that Superman is the ‘God’ while the mortal Batman is the ‘man’. read more ▷

Mar 29, 2016 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Penguins of Madagascar (2014)

This is the kind of movie that you’d expect the bean counters at Disney to readily fund given that the public adores the cute penguins. I did not have a lot of expectations from this film but the trailer looked interesting enough to make me sit through and bear what they came up with. read more ▷

Mar 26, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Big Hero 6 (2014)

Even though the movie is called ‘Big Hero 6’, the story is about a 14 year old Hiro and his brother’s cute and lovable healthcare robot: Baymax. The remaining time is unevenly distributed between the other four members of the team. read more ▷

Mar 20, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 The Revenant (2015)

A movie about how a man comes back from a near death experience and exacts revenge on his deserter for killing his son. Stunning visuals and superb acting are the major facets of this movie. But I think there’s more to it than meets the eye. read more ▷

Mar 1, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆

A Note on Web Middlewares

The word Middleware is an ambiguous term that means different things to different people. We’ll try to find out what ‘Middleware’ means in commonly used frameworks and platforms for web development and how they are implemented. read more ▷

Mar 1, 2016 ∙ 5 min read

🎥 Deadpool (2016)

This is a ~~superhero~~ movie about one Wade Wilson, who’s alter ego is Deadpool. Also known as the merc-with-a-mouth he is known for being absurdly immortal, funny and unconventional. read more ▷

Feb 26, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 The Hateful Eight (2015)

This is Quentin Tarantino’s eighth film. He describes the film as: “Just a bunch of nefarious guys in a room, all telling backstories that may or may not be true. Trap those guys together in a room with a blizzard outside, give them guns, and see what happens.” And trust me; that’s exactly what happens. Things are bound to get nasty. read more ▷

Jan 22, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★☆

🎥 Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

I am not a major Star Wars fan, but I had seen all of the first six movies in the order they were released. I had enjoyed most of them and was curious to see what new stuff Disney could put out. The Force Awakens takes place about 30 years after the events of the Return of the Jedi and all of the returning actors show their age. I’ll admit that I haven’t read the literature and other lore, and will be basing this review purely on the movies without taking into account all the fan fiction and even the books that are considered canon. read more ▷

Jan 18, 2016 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Children of Men (2006)

This is a gem of a sci-fi movie released in 2006 and takes place in the year 2027 where the world is struggling with mass infertility and no new child has been born for 18 years in the whole world. The United Kingdom is the last functioning government on the planet and is actively oppressing immigrants and refugees. The film depicts how society crumbles as it helplessly tries to deal with its own extinction. read more ▷

Jan 13, 2016 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★★★

📚 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling (2007)

Bravo! That’s all I have to say to Rowling. A fitting ending to a fantastic series. This is one of the few books that has maintained its quality consistently throughout the series making for a very entertaining read. read more ▷

Dec 15, 2015 ∙ 4 min read ∙ ★★★★★ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Spectre (2015)

James Bond, the spy with a license to kill is back with his effortless charm and worldly vices. As an anachronistic spy, operating on intuition, trashing costly tech and discarding useful intel: James Bond is dead on arrival. Running blindly into the field is something that no spy worth his money would do. read more ▷

Dec 14, 2015 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Thor: The Dark World (2013)

The second Thor movie that takes place after the events of The Avengers appears to be a pure milking scheme for Marvel Studios and friends. Thor must save his mortal girlfriend Jane Foster from the aether that she’s mistakenly infused herself with. This aether is the most powerful weapon in the nine realms and used by the Dark Elves to convert matter to dark matter. read more ▷

Nov 26, 2015 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★☆☆☆☆

📚 Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn (2012)

Marriage. That’s what this book is about. Long term relationships between a husband and a wife. Nick Dunne and Amy Elliot are a couple in Missouri and Amy is missing. Nick is the prime suspect. Shit has finally hit the fans on a stale five year old marriage and no one has a single clue about what is going on. read more ▷

Oct 22, 2015 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★★★ ∙ spoilers

🎥 Sicario (2015)

This is a movie about the drug cartels that operate around the Mexico-USA border near Texas and Arizona. Primarily an USA centric film, it tries to depict the struggles faced and tactics used by various government agencies such as the CIA and the FBI when dealing with the drug cartels. Sicario in español translates to ‘hitman’. It is however never clear who the hitman actually is, till halfway in the movie. read more ▷

Oct 18, 2015 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆

📚 Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian - Eoin Colfer (2012)

This is the last book in the series of eight and Eoin Colfer has promised to conclude the Artemis Fowl saga. I was quite excited when I heard that the serie had finally ended. This has been one of my favorite series and I have been hooked since the first book. read more ▷

Oct 2, 2015 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

🎥 The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2013)

This is a movie adaptation of the book ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower ( 1999)”. It is about high school, coming-of-age and finding what you love in the process. read more ▷

Sep 25, 2015 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 The Insider (1999)

The movie is based on real life events involving tobacco whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand’s controversial 60 Minutes interview about Brown and Williamson’s tobacco manufacturing malpractices. read more ▷

Sep 16, 2015 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★★☆

📚 The Demon-Haunted World - Carl Sagan

An excellent book for people who were recently introduced to skeptical thinking and want to understand the idea further. read more ▷

Aug 30, 2015 ∙ 2 min read

🎥 Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

If mindless henchman bumping, aged Scientology believers performing average stunts coupled with eyebrow raising twists are your cup of tea then you’re going to like this movie. Ethan Hunt is on a mission to prevent the rogue Syndicate programme from taking control of $2.5 Billion in untraceable funds around the globe. read more ▷

Aug 10, 2015 ∙ 3 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

This is a tongue-in-cheek story of the concierge and lobby boy of The Grand Budapest Hotel as narrated to an author. read more ▷

Aug 4, 2015 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Psycho (1960)

I’d first heard of Psycho when I read that there was a tribute to it in Pulp Fiction. This is also supposed to be Hitchcock’s most acclaimed movie. read more ▷

Jul 31, 2015 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Rear Window (1954)

This movie has a very interesting plot where professional photographer L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries is confined to his apartment due to a broken leg. To pass time, he takes to peeping into the lives of his various neighbors through his rear window. read more ▷

Jul 30, 2015 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Taken (2008)

I’d heard a lot of good things about this movie. I happened to watch it on TV even though that is not my preferred medium. The movie is quite short as Bryan Mills must rescue his daughter within a 96 hour window. read more ▷

Jul 28, 2015 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

Notes on the Rating System

I wanted to record a few thoughts on the rating system that I am using for movies and books. read more ▷

Jul 27, 2015 ∙ 1 min read ∙ general

🎥 The Imitation Game (2014)

This movie is a historically inaccurate account of Turing and how he cracked the Enigma. read more ▷

Jul 27, 2015 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆

🎥 Yes Man (2008)

A man is so set in his ways that nothing new happens for him. He then chances upon a weird programme that requires followers to answer ‘Yes’ to any question/favour asked of them. read more ▷

Jul 19, 2015 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆

🎥 Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Another day, another Hitchcock movie. I intend to slowly wade through all of them. This one is a supposed thriller where an American reporter is assigned as the foreign correspondent in Europe to cover the events that lead up to a fictionalised World War II. read more ▷

Jul 15, 2015 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Terminator: Genisys (2015)

You’re not going to be able to follow this movie till you’ve seen the first two terminator movies. Since this movie spends most of its time rewriting the stories from the first two movies you should go do it. read more ▷

Jul 7, 2015 ∙ 2 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Spy (2015)

A run of the mill spy movie where a support agent is moved on field after her partner is presumed dead. She performs daring stunts which are obviously not possible for people of her size and this is supposed to be funny to the audience. read more ▷

Jun 24, 2015 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★☆☆☆

🎥 The Conjuring (2013)

One of the few horror movies that I ended up watching in the past few years. It is mostly like any other horror movie where a family moves into a new home which unbeknown to them is haunted. As time passes the haunting becomes obvious and they decide to take help. read more ▷

Jun 21, 2015 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Dial M for Murder (1954)

This was my third Hitchcock movie after Vertigo and The Birds. Was only able to really follow it till the intermission. Beyond that things started to get confusing. But I think that’s mostly because it was 0400 in the morning. Things got especially confusing when multiple keys to different locks were introduced. Wouldn’t mind seeing the movie again to get a better idea. read more ▷

Jun 21, 2015 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

🎥 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

I had only seen glimpses of the original Mad Max movies on TV. The post apocalyptic setting never particularly interested me. I still ended up in the theatre when Fury Road was released. read more ▷

May 28, 2015 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★★★

📚 The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)

I’ve not seen the movies. I’ve not read the Lord of the Rings ( yet). This book is Bilbo’s story of how he finds the ring and helps Thorin and Company take back the Lonely Mountain. read more ▷

May 1, 2015 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆ ∙ spoilers

📚 The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga (2008)

This is an interesting book. It presents a different kind of entrepreneurship. One that requires a person to kill, bribe and lie through their way in the system in order to be successful. One where people are denied their chance to succeed in the world due to various societal factors. read more ▷

Apr 12, 2015 ∙ 1 min read ∙ ★★★☆☆

Dhanalakshmi Port? Bug or Easter Egg?

Recently when I was writing a PostgreSQL app, I took a look at lsof‘s output to look at the number of active database connections and I saw something weird: read more ▷

Nov 29, 2013 ∙ 1 min read

Making Peanut/Jaggery Laddoos

The process is quite easy: read more ▷

Nov 20, 2013 ∙ 1 min read ∙ food

Fvwm Explained

The earlier post about my Fvwm Desktop was a fairly short one. In this second part I try to explain some parts of that configuration file. I have also made some changes to my desktop to make it more usable. read more ▷

Dec 4, 2012 ∙ 9 min read

Designing a UI for the Elderly

My grandfather is an 83 year old fellow. He has no computer experience whatsoever, but wanted to learn computers for day to day tasks such as Email and Facebook. I decided that I wanted to keep the interface simple and hassle free. Fvwm seemed to be the best option to design a UI that would be easy to learn and use and without any clutter. All of the UI contains operations that can be carried out with a single mouse button to reduce complexity. read more ▷

Dec 4, 2012 ∙ 4 min read

Cleaning that old faithful keyboard

I recently obtained a TVS Gold Mechanical Keyboard with Mechanical Cherry MX Blue Key switches that go ‘Click’. I had to retire my old Logitech Desktop keyboard, which still functioned perfectly even after 7 years of no cleaning whatsoever. I decided that it at least deserved a wash before I packed it away. The keyboard was caked with years of dust, food, dirt, hair etc. read more ▷

Aug 12, 2012 ∙ 1 min read ∙ general

5 Minute WordPress Migration

I wanted to migrate this very blog to my other server. A 15 Minute job that I had been delaying for the past 3 Months. I finally decided to do it today. The migration is as quick and simple as WordPress’s popular 5 minute installation. read more ▷

Mar 30, 2012 ∙ 2 min read

My FVWM2 Desktop!

After getting tired of Unity and the extra Compiz Effects fighting with each other, I decided to try some other desktop environments. I had used fvwm2 earlier but never realized its power until now. read more ▷

Dec 25, 2011 ∙ 6 min read

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