Saturday, November 29, 2003

The proud owner of an iPod 20Gb

I am now the proud owner of an iPod (3rd generation) 20Gb. Its just quite simply fantastic. Yeah, you can buy cheaper imitations, but they are just that, imitations.

Its by far the slimmest device, thanks to the use of the new 1.8" hdd from toshiba, and seamlessly integrates with USB on my pc.

My next plan is to get hold of the iTrip, essentially, an FM transmitter, which allows me to be my own personal pirate radion station on the move ;-). The reality is that i can hook it up to my car-radio and tune it in.. More on that once ive gotten it working...

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Home made Pizza

The trick is to make a good tomato sauce for the pizza base.

- 4 x tomatoes.
- 1tbs Tomatoe puree.
- a big dollop of tomato pesto
- mixed herbs.
- 2 tbs Olive oil.
- 50ml x water.
- 1 clove of garlic.

Reduce in a sauce pan for 15mins..

You can make or buy your own pizza base, its something that i haven't learned to do, but i would like to.

Spread the tomato sauce evenly (but not too heavily) over the pizza base.

Sprinkle liberally with mozarella cheese.

Place in the oven for 12 minutes.

Now, when it comes out, its ready to *serve*. Just add the 2 SPECIAL ingredients. Prosciutto Ham and Rocket leaves.

Place up to 10 strips of prosciutto / parma ham over the pizza. And then sprinkle Rocket leaves over that (lots of it). I like rocket leaves there is something quite rustic and peppery about the flavour and smell.

Finally, sprinkle some sea salt & ground pepper and your ready to eat. trust me its simply gorgeous. :)

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

So, What EXACTLY is the Matrix!!!??



I came back come from seeing The Matrix Revolutions (yes i know the picture above relates to Reloaded) late on Saturday night, was i the only person who when the lights went up looked around at everyone else and thought, WTF?

Now before i get started, let me say that i did like the Matrix Revolutions. But that is because i can see the 'big-picture' - maybe because as a s/w architect i need to look at the world through many eyes.

RANT
So let me get this off my chest before we proceed. Firstly i have read and heard many reviews of the Matrix movies, and they range from "its got great special-effects, but theres no story" or "NEO is all-powerful its boring watching him fight Agent Smith" or "all the actions seqeunces were just there to fill up the movie" to "I didn't understand a word that the Architect was talking about" to "well i never liked Phantom Menace anyway.." . Jeez!

Get a hold of yourself, and stop trying to be so DAMNED cynical, the problem is that opnions are like arseholes, everyone has one. Its easier and 'smarter' to be critical than to admit that you liked something, or even to attempt to address the subjects that the Warchowski artists were trying to raise in the movies.

'So what other movies does Suresh like?' - i hear you say. Well i liked Solaris, i liked Mullholland Drive, and i liked the Pirates of the Caribbean, its ok folks, you don't lose your street cred for saying that you like this movie, or that you dig Keira Knightly, or thought that Johnny Deppwas excellent.

You see, its ok if you used to fancy Britney, or would like to groove like Beyonce or wish that your girlfriend had a bum like Kylie or youve realised Saira Mohan is such a doll, or you REALLY do think Christina Aguilerra is DIRRRRTY! Its ok, we still love you, the point is, you should see the beauty in what you see, so you don't have to be critical to be accepted, everyone forgives you, you mom still loves you, you weren't the only person that your school music teacher was stern at, and you know what?, you can give a two-finger salute to all those people that said that you wouldn't amount to much, cos they were wrong! Right. Now that i've gotten that off my chest, back to the Matrix movies.

DIFFERENT LEVELS
These movies can be seen on different levels, and each movie offers us more to think about, more to re-evaluate. I think this movie has since the days of Star Wars, brought to the masses a rare combination of philosophy, religion, mythology, meta-physics with references to buddhism, greek mythology, hindu philosophy, and gnostic christianity that was cleverly spun through a 'post modern-generation Y-ultra-geek-comic book-anime-kung-fu-action-fetish culture-dystoptian future' story, that would otherwise have been ignored by todays generation. (if you thought writing that was hard, just try saying it!!)

SUMMARY
In short, if you liked big guns, kung-fu, or wanted to get past the 'dollar-a-quote, strawberry gum, quasi-religious diatribe' (as ive heard it described!) then you would have got something out of it. The Warchowskis artists should be applauded for achieving this, but i will not sympathise with the person, that is critical, and that was neither entertained, nor wanted to learn or think.

I think the Wachowski Brothers should tackle another Matrix movie, perhaps they can introduce the notion of another human cancer that seems rife in this world, and that is human cynicism and apathy.

Monday, November 10, 2003

IT-Analysis.com - Will the Process Integrators Integrate?

This article by Peter Abrahams is spot on on the current vendors marketplace for ETL/EAI/BPM...

Its exactly what ive been thinking over the last year... Ultimately the application server (read IDE) vendors that will win in this space. EAI and BPM is not a black box solution, so it will be driven by the businesses and the developers implementing the solutions.