New time

When i started this blog, i promised myself i'd keep writing, even if no one bothered to read*. Here i am, back after so long with the tinge of guilt that i  had almost broken my promise. The past year in my perspective was possibly the most unproductive year ever. Yes, including the fact I'm finally an Engineer. Yay. One more engineer to the flock of millions. Boo. So what life lessons did i learn the past year? keep your friends close. Especially the jobless ones 'cause C'mon you definitely need some company when you're that (how do i put this nice and neat) dormant that one more day of it and there'd be more cobwebs appearing in the last corner of your brain. Enjoying the possible final days of freedom as much as I can is a wonderful thing and i have seized every moment of it. honest! okay, so i slept half the time but that counts too! Catching up with friends who live in the same city yet meeting 'em after years shows how busy everyone is and how wide the gap has become or ahem: it's just plain laziness.

Another thing i learnt: though i have been preaching and practicing; how people shouldn't poke their noses in other's business, I've just realized that the percentage who actually do follow that are possibly equal to the same number of sentences Manmohan Singh spoke in the whole of 2012. Fortunately, I haven't been the victim of that and my finger did most of the talking when it did. Too bad i can't say the same to some of the people i know who are figuring out what they wanna do with their lives before taking the plunge into the icy world of work and responsibility where the only way of turning back is by going into a coma. I'm convinced the only way you don't tempt yourself into knocking your head with the hammer is by doing what you can, will and most importantly what you like. Ofcourse, there are people who are just so good at doing everything to whom the previous sentence does not apply, guys the line 'i'm very jealous of you' doesn't quite do justice to how i feel.

This year has new stuff happening.exciting stuff. you can actually feel the electricity in the air. Superior Spiderman #1 is also out! look it up.
To all my readers and friends, Its never too late to say a happy new year! and hope the future endeavours are successful and to those who are getting married this year: c'mon guys you're making us feel old! :P

regards,
jkimperfect



*please read my blog! :P   -<@

Moonwalker- The Legend of Pop

Three years since the unfortunate passing of the Moonwalker, his birthday on the 29th August will forever be an important date in Music history.Listening to the immortal songs on the music channels who have dedicated to playing michael's songs rekindles childhood memories of my failed attempts at trying to be just like him. 

The Legend forever lives in the hearts of dancers and any person who loves music. The man brought a whole new level and style to pop making him one of the most iconic people ever to have shared the planet with us. Whether his sequined socks or signature fedora hat, the king of pop carried them out with style. The Legendary moonwalker who sadly left us 3 years ago whose presence is felt even today in the hearts of music lovers and dancers alike. His perfection, his talent and his utter disregard to growing up made him a global icon.

Being born as the eighth child in a family of ten siblings, living in a three room apartment only points out that he had his hardships as a child before fame engulfed him.  Though he claimed his father’s strict disciplinary nature was a great part in his success, it’s a fact that he had a very abusive childhood. His attitude to remain child-like throughout his adult life is in many ways consistent with the effects of this chronic maltreatment he endured as a young child.

The success of Jackson 5 and the eventual downfall of the Jacksons lead him to meet Quincy Jones, who decided to co-produce his first solo album Off the Wall which for a fact had Paul McCartney as one of the songwriters. Selling over 20 million worldwide, the album was an apparent success. It also saw the beginning of his series of rhinoplasty surgery (on his nose) after breaking his nose performing a complicate dance move.

In 1984 he won seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. These awards were thanks to the album……………yep! You guessed it, Thriller! 

Released in late 1982, which was 1983's best-selling album worldwide and became the best-selling album of all time in the United States, as well as the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 110 million copies so far.  It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It", and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"Thriller was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States.

MJ filmed his pepsi ad in 1984 during which he accidentally got his hair on fire suffering second degree burns to his scalp. He underwent his third rhinoplasty and treatment for his scalp. Eventually the next couple of years saw MJ losing skin tone and turning rather pale and blotchy. He was diagnosed with lupus and vitiligo making him sensitive to sunlight.

"Bad" is a song by American songwriter and recording artist and musical inventor Michael Jackson. "Bad" was released by Epic Records in September 1987, as the second single from Jackson's seventh studio album of the same name. The song was written, composed, and co-produced by Jackson, and produced by Quincy. Jackson stated that the song was influenced by a real life story he'd read about.

Jackson released his only autobiography, Moonwalk, which took four years to complete and sold 200,000 copies. Jackson wrote about his childhood, The Jackson 5, and the abuse he had suffered. He also wrote about his facial appearance, saying he had had two rhino plastic surgeries and a dimple created in his chin. He attributed much of the change in the structure of his face to puberty, weight loss, a strict vegetarian diet, a change in hair style, and stage lighting. Moonwalk reached the top position on The New York Times best sellers' list.

The Neverland Ranch naming after his favorite fantasy character’s Peter Pan’s homeland was bought at a cost of $17 million. He installed Ferris wheels, a menagerie, and a movie theater on the 2,700-acre (11 km²) property. A security staff of 40 patrolled the grounds. In 2003, it was valued at approximately $100 million 1989, his annual earnings from album sales, endorsements, and concerts was estimated at $125 million for that year alone. Shortly afterwards, he became the first Westerner to appear in a television ad in the Soviet Union.

His success resulted in his being dubbed the "King of Pop". The nickname was popularized by Elizabeth Taylor when she presented him with the Soul Train Heritage Award in 1989, proclaiming him "the true king of pop, rock and soul."President George H.W. Bush designated him the White House's "Artist of the Decade".

One of the most epic entries Jackson was at the halftime show at Super Bowl XXVII. The performance began with Jackson catapulting onto the stage as fireworks went off behind him. As he landed on the canvas, he maintained a motionless "clenched fist, standing statue stance", dressed in a gold and black military outfit and sunglasses; he remained completely motionless for a minute and a half while the crowd cheered. He then slowly removed his sunglasses, threw them away and sang four songs: "Jam", "Billie Jean", "Black or White" and "Heal the World". It was the first Super Bowl where the audience figures increased during the half-time show.Do check out the video. I promise it will blow your mind!

The moonwalker’s love for fame had become addictive making him to leak out untruths to the media, making him seem crazy and also entitling him Wacko-Jacko, this made him more of a mentally disturbed figure than a role model. Further reports of child abuse during the 1994 Chandler family incident left him permanently scarred after a strip search was ordered against him.

After his two failed marriages with Lisa Marie Presley daughter of Elvis Presley and Debbie Rowe respectively and his next hit album Invincible though lower relative to his earlier albums due to conflicts with Sony and other issues including a new born child Prince Michael Jackson II(his third child, the first two being Paris and Prince Joseph Jackson jr.) through a surrogate mother along with another child abuse case against him left him battered and moved to Persian Gulf of Bahrain.

In late 2008, Fortress Investments threatened to foreclose on Neverland Ranch, which Jackson used as collateral for loans running into many tens of millions of dollars.

In March 2009, Jackson held a press conference at London's O₂ Arena and announced a series of comeback concerts titled This Is It. The shows would be Jackson's first major series of concerts since the HIStory World Tour finished in 1997. Jackson suggested possible retirement after the shows; he said it would be his "final curtain call". Sadly The Moonwalker died before the tour and a documentary film about the rehearsals titled Michael Jackson's This Is It was released. Even though it ran for a limited two-week engagement, it became the highest grossing documentary or concert movie of all time,

Michael Jackson was reported to be one of the largest owners of property on the moon. In 2005, he bought a 1,200 acre plot in the Lake of Dreams and owned a smaller parcel in the Sea of Vapours. After his death, a crater on the moon was renamed Michael Joseph Jackson by The Lunar Republic Society in Jackson's honor. The crater, officially named Posidonius J, is located on an area of the moon known as the Lake of Dreams, or Lacus Somniorum. The crater is 22 kilometers across and is situated near Jackson's owned land. A spokesman for the society said: "The official designation of a Lunar crater is a singular honour bestowed upon only a select few luminaries. "Among those receiving this rare tribute over the past century are Leonardo da Vinci, Christopher Columbus, Sir Isaac Newton, Julius Caesar and Jules Verne , cool huh? The Moonwalker made his mark literally on the moon. 

Despite the many controversies and allegations against Jackson, he will be remembered most for trying to make the world a better place through his music

APPLE vs SAMSUNG

APPLE vs SAMSUNG: THE PATENT BATTLE

Ofcourse let’s start with what a patent is: patenting something you invent or innovate is the best thing to avoid getting your ideas stolen and implemented by other people. So, you invent an egg cracker and you clearly would not like your neighbor getting the idea and selling out the idea as his/her own now, would you?

That being said, the innovators at Apple cried foul at a lot of Samsung products that had been subject to infringement. Considering patent infringement to be a very big offence in court and the fact the two giants now ruling the tech world battling it out caused a lot of rush.

Apple however tried the 'kitchen sink" strategy and throwing everything at Samsung they could, hoping something would stick. This didn’t stop Samsung to counter sue Apple only for the reason of saving face. It took the jury less than a couple of days to reject that.

Apple wants eight Samsung smart phones banned.

They are the Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 AT&T model, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S2 T-Mobile model, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail.

Andrew “Andy” Updegrove, a founding partner of Gesmer Updegrove, a top technology law firm, agreed. “I think it's a given that Samsung will appeal. Given the damages awarded and the obvious determination of Apple to defend its patents, Samsung has little choice but to press forward wherever it can in court.” He went on to say that Samsung could negotiate cross patent licensing.

Sadly, Apple doesn’t seem to sway to this wind either. Being one of the innovative companies lately ,it is only natural for Apple to defend its successful technological advancements where others have failed especially for the tablets and iPhones.  Every consumer electronics company has just been put on notice and will eventually suffer against the wrath of the apple lawsuit.

A partner at the Sunstein IP law firm that the process though brings great news to innovators and inventors who can breathe easy that patent infringement is a big deal , it is still basically a completely exhaustive money and time cSonsuming process. The lawsuits could take months or years to settle, with both sides shifting gears eventually fighting for no reason with the introduction of latest technology. Eventually all will be forgotten.

However the end of this round saw Apple having a upper hand at Samsung. A jury on Friday ordered Samsung to pay Apple more than $1bn (£664m) after ruling it had infringed several of the iPhone maker's patents.

Shares in Samsung rose 3% on Tuesday on news of the delay of the hearing.

The South Korean firm had $12bn wiped off its market value on Monday as its shares suffered their biggest drop since October 2008.The list does not include Samsung's current flagship handset, the Galaxy S3, which was not involved in the case.

The hearing in September will still consider Samsung's motion to dissolve a preliminary injunction already allowed against its Galaxy Tab 10.1

The judge had originally suggested that Apple's request would be heard next month, but now says that a hearing will take place on 6 December.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/NoW/395569030506366

The End and The Beginning

The night rather the time of day after midnight. awake. bored. music blaring. neighbors probably cursing, Can't sleep. Either the excitement of finally finishing my last exam of my engineering degree (hopefully) or the fact i have a whole life ahead of me which is not constrained within the walls of a classroom and exams. 

It seemed like only yesterday i walked into my not-so-famous college and met some really amazing people who have made it to taking a permanent spot in my volatile memory. A journey with easy ups and devastating lows but it was definitely a learning experience and i don't mean from the engineering books (foreign or local or own for that matter ;) )
Sitting today in my classroom for possibly the last time made me take a few minutes from my books just to look around and memorize each window of it and the scene outside,the board and the benches i scratched my names on. Ghosts of laughter( and yelling of my class )played in my head like some kind of sweet melody and brought out some scenes i thought i never had.

No longer being a student by the term is kinda hard to digest. I mean that's the only thing I've been doing for the last 18 years and a change to becoming the adult who shoulders responsibilities ,becoming a role model for the younger generation: That's just an insane thought. ( yeah i kinda went overboard with the role model thing, didn't i? :P )
The days of becoming a working guy seemed like a distant future and now that it's finally here, it's just an example that whatever we look to be in the far horizon, is inevitable and will eventually come.
We all seemed to be getting jobs right now. Most of my friends are already working and some of them are really enjoying it, fortunately. But then again, there are so many options out there ; just waiting  to be explored and this reminds me of the poem 'The Road Not Taken'- Robert Frost,

I, frankly believe people need to think about what they want to do right after their high school and if they hadn't had the chance then, after graduation maybe. Screw engineering. Anyone who's anyone is an engineer. Ever thought about being different? unique? 

Passion counts ,it can keep you doing what you wanna do as a profession forever ,I mean, I for one don't know how long certain people would last in a software job unless they actually enjoy the coding and the love for the monitor screen while feeling up the keyboard. Eventually, the stress ,the uninteresting  field and the work depression is a hard kick in the gut,guys. Careful what you get into.


 Anyways where was I? ah yes. Last day of college. No longer a student. But i remember a wise friend of mine who said you never stop being a Student in the University of Life. Yeah, student forever huh? :P Okay fine so,I'm being a little too philosophical; sue me.


It's a long 'vacation' ahead and i'd probably (hopefully) do something worthwhile.This is the end ,this is the beginning. Goodnight everyone 




-jkimperfect.

Other Side of Summer

Okay yeah it’s been quite a long time since my last post but hey there wasn’t a lot of interesting stuff going on unless u count the earthquake I slept through and the people flooding the beach shores waiting for a tsunami that never came.

Final year of college. Loads of free time, great opportunity to enhance your hidden talents right? We all know how that went: P

A class trip to hokenagal falls was fun but it kind of opened up on how very well maintained the Tamil Nadu tourism is.  Amazing how the stench and the surroundings can overpower the beauty of the nature. Another being the pool of plastic bottles at the bottom of the falls, it seemed almost intentional. The gods must be mad, speaking of gods; the Avengers taking on the God of mischief Loki himself has been a kickass flick!

If you haven’t watched it yet, I have just this to ask you...are you being tied down held captive by someone or are u one of those people who think twilight is the greatest movie ever?  

Staying on topic, I also caught this movie ‘Leelai’ last night, I must admit I did not have much hope for the movie with new cast and only went to watch ‘cause the music just seemed really good and fine,for Manasi Parekh too.

 I ended up eating my words 15mins through the movie, the actors were a natural and the plot though simple had an amazing screenplay with just the right dash of humor. Shiv pandit gifted with brilliant acting skills can be seen even in his smallest expressions ,Manasi has managed to play her role to the max while Suhasini Raju as Suja has enough screen time to bring out her best. It’s a great film, Do check it out, it’s a light hearted romantic comedy waiting to get inside of your senses and wrestle ‘em.

Anyway the last few weeks were probably one of the most annoying ones for guys from AU deemed, the Anna University postponing the exams and almost seemed as never coming as the rains in Chennai.  The fact of combining all the branches of AU under a common authority seemed like a good idea until the remarkable minds decided to impose it on the month when exams were gonna start. Oh and good luck for all those taking it.

So college at its end now, it has been an amazing experience for me, I’m sure it was for every one of you. Giving you the chance to grow up or at least pretend to, like I did :P .It has been one heck of a journey from being new to the whole new environment of my college, making great friends, meeting new people, joy of results, treat for arrears, it’s been warming to the heart and obviously unbelievable that these 4 years have made such a great impression on our lives now and forever.

 The people we met from college have influenced our lives to a great extent, us no longer being the kids we were back in high school; learning to be responsible ,failing at every possible way and picking ourselves up just to know how to survive & it was these guys who stuck by our side, encouraging or laughing or doing both.  We have come a long way, hard to believe that most of us have even started working considering we were hanging out in bicycles and tuitions just a few years ago holding out our hands for pocket money. Hopefully the many friendships made will always be maintained now that we have the social networks helping us with that. So to all you people out there who are going away on job stuff or higher education, it is always easy to make time for friends and family; it’s all about priorities in the end isn’t it?

 Have a great summer. :-D

Uninvited Interruption

Pongalo Pongal! The village harvest festival celebrated across the country by various names was unusually a very fun event this year.

Again,my not-so-famous college surprised us by holding a 'pongal annual celebration' to which all the students were invited ( compulsory attendance! ) asking us to wear traditional clothes if we wanted to.

Being my final year and everything, I was somehow talked into wearing a dhoti but I was not alone in this embarrassment and I didn't feel like a complete idiot even when I kept tripping over as much as the number of times I bunked college this semester.


Finally finishing my obstacle course towards the auditorium( with nature having it's share of fun by making it a particulary windy day,I felt like Maryln Monroe holding down my dhoti ),
me along with my friends took our seats and waited for the events to begin.

The first event was a debate in tamil,which I completely lost track of when they mentioned the title in Sentamizh. There were a lot of arguments and it seemed like a pretty tough contest when people started walking out; for some reason, they found the outdoors more exciting.Who could blame 'em,pongal was festival of harvest and u can't possibly stay indoors.

I joined my friends outside the auditorium watching the actual pot boil which is how the term pongal came into existence( or so I think); snapping pictures and watching the greenery of my college made it such a beautiful and peaceful experience, when my phone buzzed under my dhoti (i had pants worn under 'em,clever huh? )


You know how fun things(no matter how uncomfortable the dhoti was,being with friends always made it awesome) always had this irritating uninvited spell of bad news like a cat crashing a tea party of pigeons.
Well this day was no different.

The results had been announced.

It took a moment for the news to sink in,by which time people started using their phones to access the net via WiFi or 3G. Sadly,the site was overloaded with client traffic and we couldn't reach it. The fear of results hadn't really gripped me until I heard people yelling out either about clearing the papers or flunking out.Guys ran holding their dhotis and probably wishing this couldn’t have been the worse time to wear one; to check the results.

I ended up calling my friends who were still at home to get my results,Shramanth sadly was going through the same thing as i was for he was at the theatre watching a movie and so my next try was for Ajay who finally looked up the results for me and my friends.Only then did we all relax, at least a little bit. 


Weeping saree clad girls and depressed dhoti guys flanked the college by lunch.

As for me: It was more like a 'Challenge Accepted' kinda moment. It was a day that was meant to be celebrated,enjoyed and make our throats go sore from cheering and the results wasn't going to stop me from doing just that.


Post lunch was where the real fun began: the mechanical guys of my college rocked the stage with their stand-up comedy while the girls did an amazing job in folk dance.Their positiveness finally made it's way through to the students watching and managed to get them engaged and live the moment.(or should i say 'danced' the moment)

The day finally made a good end despite the poor timing of the results and even though it was on Friday the 13^th ,it was a good day after all.

While the inevitable post-result trauma rocked me with the helplessness of not being able to do anything about changing 'em, it was once again time to take life into control one way or the other. Managing to get my old Tae-Kwon-Do master's number from my friend Murali; I resolved to join my martial art training from scratch.


It was an awkward moment talking to my master over the phone especially when he could not remember who I was, well, I thought that matter would clear up once I meet him.

Met him. still didn't remember. Awkward. Hey who could blame the guy,I hadn’t gone there for what 10yrs or so now.

Anyways, moving on (that's what I told him too) I joined back and it was a good feeling being able to do something worthwhile on the weekends than sitting infront of my computer refreshing the Facebook page every 5 seconds. Yes, I still do that every other day but hey it's any day better than hitting the books,right?




And now

To all you nerds: clearing every paper in the 7th semester with probably a greater percentage than most of us and yet continue to lament.

 So not cool, guys. Careful who u bawl to or prepare urself to be hacked to death with a pencil or bludgeoned with a scientific calculator.

You have been warned.

To you guys who did screw up a bit: Chill, it's not the end of the world; Lot of options left to clear 'em, Shit happens. It's best to move on and doing something about it than brooding and wasting the present moment.

Cheers!

-jkimperfect

To See or Not To See.

I don't know about you guys, but resolutions have never worked for me; be it trying not to oversleep or being a regular at college. The latter being this year's resolution lasted, well it never actually began. I bunked the first day of college after new year's day. I just found it very unethical to be working right after new year's day, don’t u think?

The next day wasn't so bad, I ended up sleeping  through the entire day at college with frequent,not to mention annoying racket from the lecturers.

Anyway, as uneventful as the week was (except for the college making a few resolutions for the students about discipline and what not, which probably lasted as long as mine did) there weren't anything interesting going around except watching India being thrashed around like a rag doll caught in a storm in Australia.That was painful.Very painful indeed.

Im sure the team and every Indian wanted that event to be forgotten or at least make it invisible. For a fact such a a thing may soon be possible.The scientists at Cornell university have theorized that flow of light can be interrupted reaching our eyes and hence making us miss an entire event taking place and also proved it ; 

It’s called a Time Cloak; while other time cloaks involved space alteration such as light bending around objects whereas this one involves altering time itself using a special lens created for splitting light and slowing down one part relative to the other.

True story ;) Imagine the endless possibilities of such time cloaks; surprise birthday parties are never going to be the pressure tasks It once used to be while students can sneak a peek into books and just pretend they knew the answer all along. The cons? Well a lot! but it’s an amazing idea and definitely gains the attention it deserves.

It’s 10.30pm on Jan 9^th 2012.After a hard (boring) day at college presenting project reviews which went surprisingly well by the way, especially after a bad start in the morning when i was asked to go home and think about being a responsible final year 'coz i didn't bring my ID card (those damn Id cards);As tempting as the offer seemed, i chose to stay; Yeah i'm definitely getting too soft, 

So here I am blogging right before the day, that many anticipate to be when the results for the Anna University deemed colleges are released or rather end up dramatically and symbolically saying “You Shall Not Pass!”

while many wish that event just never happened using the Time Cloak;

Anna University

It's coming guys,the results are coming. As a wise man once said 

"Exams may come,Exams may go; But we go on forever." 

Yes that wise man happens to be Ram Kumar Elavarasan.


Goodnight everyone.