Category: music

11/10/11 08:59 - ID#55479

Ofra Haza

Her voice is so beautiful it sends chills down my spine.

Deliver us!

Probably my most favourite song from that fantastic movie. I can't remember any other movie that has such a pitch perfect soundtrack... well, except The Incredible Hulk (but it was all instrumental).

And seriously, she owns Led Zep with this cover.

Permalink: Ofra_Haza.html
Words: 63
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/10/11 09:10

Category: perl

11/09/11 07:56 - ID#55471

Pearls of Perl

The skeleton of a "For loop"

Initialization
Test condition
Modification

I realized how much I depend on RStudio for learning R as I go along. I looked for a similar IDE for Perl, but none seems to be that elegant, awesome and well-thought out. I am trying Padre for now, but I find myself constantly comparing it with RStudio and I am not impressed.

PS: Totally unrelated but I hate the new Gmail look. I need to remember to download Stylish for Chrome the minute they make the new look permanent

Permalink: Pearls_of_Perl.html
Words: 98
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/09/11 11:17

Category: eating in

11/06/11 09:41 - ID#55456

The DST Sunday breakfast.

I improvised on one of my Mum's recipes to come up with a tribute to the sorely needed extra hour.

The steamed lentil and millet sunlight dumpling!

1 part green moong dal
1 part millets
1 part urad dal

Soaked 3-6 hours
Blended to a coarse grind
Seasoned with olive oil with mustard seeds, dried red chillies, jalapeÃ±os, red peppers, curry leaves. Salt to taste
Fermented overnight.
Steamed in the morning.
Garnished with carrots and coriander leaves, tossed in lemon juice. Red onions would have been awesome but I forgot about them.

Tada!

PS: Could have been infinitely better with a coconut and coriander and caramelized onion chutney. But I only have so much time to spare. The ratios are a keeper, though.

Permalink: The_DST_Sunday_breakfast_.html
Words: 124
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/06/11 09:56

Category: buffalo

11/06/11 07:07 - ID#55454

Gift of an hour

I LOVE it. It's only

7:07 AM

instead of an hour later.

Whoever invented the ridiculous daylight savings time policy probably mused...

Oh you know what, I will make them suffer for the major part of the year and then make them feel a little bit better on a single day before the wretched winter sets in.

Well, DST masochist, thank you for today. But know that I have hated you a lot since March.

Permalink: Gift_of_an_hour.html
Words: 78
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/06/11 07:12

Category: eating in

11/06/11 01:04 - ID#55453

Cocoa Butter Vs. Soy Lecithin

Good way to find out if your chocolate is filled with the phony filler substitute for cocoa butter (otherwise known as soy lecithin): Hold it in your hands for around 30 seconds.

If the chocolate starts to melt and smear your hands a bit, it has at least some amount of real cocoa butter (or if you were careful you bought one completely made of cocoa and cocoa butter).

Else, you just bought a chocolate with fake soy lecithin. I wish they had never found this stupid filler. It somehow makes the sugar in the chocolate more prominent than the cocoa. And that is a sign of a bad chocolate.

Permalink: Cocoa_Butter_Vs_Soy_Lecithin.html
Words: 109
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/06/11 01:10

Category: music

11/05/11 10:30 - ID#55452

What a piece of transformed crap?!

That was the first expression that came to mind listening to Steve Jablonsky's soundtrack for the 3rd installation of the transformers movie.

I admit that I watch movies sometimes mainly because I like soundtracks so much. Who cares about storylines? I can't keep most of them straight anyways.

The first transformers movie was spectacular on that account. The music was simply spellbinding. I actually watched it in a record time of a week because a friend had booked tickets to Transformers 2 and shocked that I hadn't watched the first one, insisted that part 2 wouldn't make sense if I had not seen part 1. So I did. And the music hooked me in.

But it didn't matter. Transformers 2 was a colossal mess. I swear I had to resist the urge to exclaim "What just happened there?!" multiple times throughout the story. I also had issues about how the main lead got his clothes all torn and messy at the end of the crazy chases and whatnots but that actress who wore an immaculate white get-up did not have a single grease smear or dirt track ANYWHERE on that vast expanse of white even after several tumble-chase sequences down some of the grimiest and dirtiest of pyramids in Egypt. The music was still okay. Not as good as T1 but still pretty good in general.

I caught around 15 minutes of T3 flying from NYC to Buffalo. It just convinced me not to spend any more time on it. I had hopes that maybe the music would redeem T3. Was I ever more wrong.

T3 music is such a careless and horrible recycling of T1 and T2 themes, it seems like an insult to those soundtracks. I bet the crap music set the tone for the rest of the movie. I read that the sequels stop with T3. Thank goodness for little mercies.

Going back to my T1 soundtrack now.

Permalink: What_a_piece_of_transformed_crap_.html
Words: 316
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/05/11 10:30

Category: eating in

11/05/11 03:16 - ID#55450

God bless America

and carrots.
and tomatoes.
and squash.
and kidney beans.

Permalink: God_bless_America.html
Words: 11
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/05/11 03:16

Category: music

11/05/11 11:09 - ID#55446

Se Florindo Ã¨ fedele...

I am appointing this opera as my signature tune this weekend.

Yeah, those ruins are not the point (Why play Scarlatti/Bartoli over some monastery in ruins?! Beats me.) Someday, I want to enroll in voice training and sing this opera.

Permalink: Se_Florindo_fedele_.html
Words: 43
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/05/11 11:29

Category: whine

11/05/11 09:52 - ID#55444

Airline fares

I hate it when I have just booked a ticket and find that I could have got it for $20-$50 less on a competing airline. In this case, the lesson learned is that Delta has cheaper fares coming back from NYC compared with JetBlue. I have seen this so many times. JetBlue is not exactly the cheapest as everyone believes.

I don't like flying and vastly prefer taking Amtrak. But whenever I am headed back home, anxiety trumps dislike and I usually fly. Going to the city, I always take the train.

I just hate all these price differences and deals in a way. They manipulate your thoughts so efficiently without you even realizing it.

Whiny whine.

Permalink: Airline_fares.html
Words: 117
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/05/11 09:57

Category: music

11/03/11 07:54 - ID#55435

What if you...

{set to the tune of Joshua's Radin's song}
opened a biscuit packet

What if you
found that each was broken

I wonder if you'd try
counting the pieces
it's come to this
so annoying
each one at the exact same place

What if I.. i.e.i,e.I
had bought a better packet!
I wouldn't have had to endure
this ridiculous breakage

Held together by the packet
But when your hand reaches the biscuit
there's nothing you can do
but watch irked as it breaks apart.