The Finer Things in Life

"Sunny, you have no taste for the finer things in life!", she says. 

All because I wouldn't go to the bloody opera with her. 

And that brings up a very interesting question - what are the finer things in life and who decides? 

As always I am going to pose the questions and leave you holding the bag for answers. 

• Why is wine tasting a finer thing while drinking beer while watching sports is uncouth? 
  
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• Why is watching a boring, insomnia-curing opera is finer but watching a 2-hour rollercoaster of action and suspense with Messers Stallone and Schwarzenegger is not? 
  
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• Why is reading mind-numbing, brain-killing fat-ass classics is a finer thing even though they were not written for today's life, but reading an interesting, action-packed thriller is junk? 
  

Well, the answer to who decides is simple - the society! How is it decided? I may not have the definitive answer but I have some theories. 

• Anything that's so expensive that only an elite group of people can do it, is a finer thing in life. Case in point - Theatre vs. Movies, Wine vs. Beer. 
  
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• Anything that's so mind-numblingly boring that doctors can prescribe it in place of sedative is a finer thing. Case in point - opera. 
  
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• Anything that's fun and enjoyable is eithe forbidden or dirty or both. Case in point - sex. 
  
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• Anything that's cheap and easy to obtain is junk. Case in point - Burgers and Pizza. 
  

You know the finer things in my life? 

Any moment when I can enjoy the music (any kind of music) and move to it, with or without a pretty girl for a partner. (I am no dancer but I believe in the old adage from Bali island "If a man is happy, he can always learn to dance.") 

Any stupid, silly comedy show that makes me clap and burst into laughter. 

A smile that comes to my lips after I finish a nice meal that I cooked for myself. 

An evening with friends where they are being just as silly as I am (or usually beating me at it) and it doesn't matter what the silliness was wrapped around, a game of pool, a movie or a dance class. 

A parcel that brings me a new book. Read or unread. 

...actually, I have a few thousand more but they all have one thing in common, I don't give a hoot if they are the official "finer" things or not. My life, my rules! [Hmmm, not a bad title for my autobiography! ;) ]

To strive, to seek, to find

Yes, I know I have not blogged in a while, but I have been spending my online time, (which means all the time when I am not asleep or not in the bathroom), in my virtual life Second Life. I will tell you about that in some other post. For now I want to share what actually compelled me to post tonight. It's a clip from the very last episode of Frasier. Season 11, episode 24. 

He is reciting part of the poem Ulysses by Tennyson, the same poem is mentioned in the Heinlein book I am currently re-reading "To sail beyond the sunset". Indeed the title itself is from the poem. 

Oh, this clip also contains 2 of my most favorite quotes from Frasier which he may re-quoting but they are my all time favorite quotes anyway. Prizes for guessing which ones are those. 

So, with that much ado, here's the clip. 

Do you "whoo"?

No, not "who" but "whoo" as in "whoo hoo" without the "hoo". No idea what I am talking about? Well, you have not heard of the "whoo girls" then. What is a "whoo girl", you ask?

Let me illustrate with an example.




With that we come to the most crucial question of this lecture - "Why does a whoo girl whoo?".

Here's why.



Now, let's get back to the original question - "Do you whoo?"

Inside joke

Sorry, as I said, an inside joke. :-)

Second Life Romance

Well, you guys know I am crazy, right? Then you won't be surprised to hear that I started yet another project to take over my already full, saturated, overflowing life.

Recently, a wife divorced her husband because he cheated on her. The girl he cheated with was not even real, she was an avatar in Second Life! This case for some reason came up in the news but there have been other instances like this. You can read about it in detail here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/13/second-life-divorce

Now, you guys know already that I am quite a Second Lifer, as in I spend a lot of time in there. I have never been married there, nor do I intend to but it's still a lot of fun! If you want to see what's so fascinating about it, check out some really (not virtually) mind-blowing pictures here: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafeal/

So, while reading that, something clicked in my mind (no, there was no real click, just a virtual one). I thought about the fact that Second Life (lovingly called SL... well not true, sometimes it's used with disgust but still that's the official short form) has millions of users (seriously, more than 10 Million) and people come across each other, (just like in the real world) in stores, clubs, parties, interest groups and just plain walking down the street. 

However, there is a shortage of this walking-around-and-doing-life-stuff in Second Life. You login to SL when you want to do something specific and usually this is followed by going to the place where you want to go. This is done by "Teleporting" which is just as it sounds, very StarTrek - you disappear from here and appear there. So, no walking around, no coming across your neighbors or the cute girl who just moved down the block. 

Even when you meet someone it's not always ideal because even though you might like them a lot, there might be something called Timezone in your way. She comes online when I am already asleep (think Australia and UK), so no matter how much I like that girl, I would find it very hard to meet her other than in the dreams (call it 3rd Life if you like). 

Or worse. You really like her gorgeous avi, she has the legs, the hair, the these and those....but she's married! :( What you gonna do? 

So, having a website where one can actually search for people, nearby, single and interested in meeting others....I thought that would rock! 

And hence was born www.SLRomance.com.

With me, to think is to act; so even though the idea was conceived sometime Monday afternoon, the site was up and running before Monday night midnight. 

Do give it a go, I would be really interested to know what you think. 

EDIT:

Due to Trademark reasons I had to change the domain name. Now it's called SecondDating.com. Lots of re-work.

Second Life Keyboard

All Second Life addicts will appreciate this one -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pradprathivi/2875112613/sizes/o/

Thought of the day - 31st Oct 2008

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is
exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only
different kinds of good weather.
- John Ruskin

First snow of the season

This is what I woke up to this morning. 

This is Zurich for you. 

Quantum of Solace

I have just realized, or actually been made to realize, that Quantum of Solace, the latest James Bond movie is releasing in UK this Friday not in November as I was thinking. So, Friday 31st of October, it's being lauched in the cinemas and me traveling on that very day from Zurich to London.

Well, it's too bad I can't watch it as soon as it's released but I am gonna watch it pretty soon for sure.

Now, if Hollywood wants to kill piracy this is the kind of movies they need to make. Even if it's available to download or even on first-class, genuine, right-from-the-producers DVD I would not watch it first on the small TV. First viewing will of course be on the silver screen and then of course I'd add the DVD to my collection.

Just for the record I really hate Daniel Craig but my love for the Bond genre is greater than my hate for Craig.

What is Booty Call?

I learnt most of my English from storybooks, comics and novels. The rest of it I got from movies and TV shows. :) There were many times when I could not look up something in the dictionary. I can give as example, the policemen's love of donuts, dogs' love of postmen's ankles and fire hydrants, city blocks, drugstores and so many other concepts that don't exist in India and you can't really find them in the dictionary.

Most of the time I learned their meanings from repetition or seeing them on the screen. I wish I had somebody to explain things to me like Alan explains the meaning of Booty Call to his son in this video...:-)

A Good Man's Potential

This is one of my pet peeves too, women picking men for their potential, trying to change them...I like Charlie's last speech in this clip.




P.S. I really hate this girl. Not her personally but all that she does to the cool Charlie. Really hate her!

How much can you read in a lifetime?

Well, I haven't done this, EVER, in a bookstore but I do think that bookstores remind us of our mortality in a more painful way than graveyards or crematoriums. There are so many books around in so many different categories and so many languages. And every time I go to a bookstore I think about how many of those books I'd like to read and how there's never going to be time enough to read all the books that I want to read.


Somehow that overpowering, overwhelming feeling doesn't come when you visit www.amazon.co.uk even when you follow link after link. I don't know why. Do you?

Watch the video and make sure never to do that yourself.

I doubt therefore I am!

Recently, I had to find the meaning of the word - agnostic. I knew at a generic, broad level that they were different in their belief system from atheists but I didn't know what their belief system actually was.

So as I say, I looked it up. And this is what I found out - an atheist goes right against the majority and says "There is NO God!". But the agnostic takes a big question mark and pastes it where everybody can see it and says "How the hell do you know if there is or there isn't, a God!".

Funny words aside, I believe in the quote, "Admire anyone who goes in the search of Truth, doubt anyone who claims to have found it."

Agnostics are right, there is not enough data to decide on this big question. For my money, I'd trust an agnostic sooner than a priest who leads me through a lot of mumbo-jumbo in order to "please" "God". I put those words in separate quotes for a reason. They  want you to believe that there is a God and this is the particular way of pleasing him. And you can't ask how they know this to be true...because that's questioning the faith.

This healthy curiosity, this capacity to doubt everything, that's what makes us an intelligent race.

I think I am going to convert - from an atheist to an agnostic!

Two and a Half Men - The Mt. Everest Challenge

Watch this video and see for yourself the kind of resolve Charlie has. I really love Berta's speech in this one.

How I Met Your Mother - Barney Gets the Yips

Oh it's funny for sure, but my reason for posting it? Heidi Klum looks so gorgeous!

Embedded Video

Barney's Crib - Now that's awesome apartment

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Google Office

That's the kind of office and office environment that should be made available for creative workers.

Take a look at Google's Zurich office.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7292600.stm

GG - A friend everyone should have

I was looking for something else when I found this. It's funny.

A google Office Worker gets lucky

Gmail Tips: Read your mail without touching your mouse

Fantastic stuff -
Official Gmail Blog: Tip: Read your mail without touching your mouse: "some"

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Stop sending mail you later regret

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Stop sending mail you later regret