Ran across this absolutely *fabulous* rant about audio speaker ratings. This is a must-read for anyone who ever felt thrilled at the thought of blowing money on a “2500 Watt PMPO” system.

People seem to be less than happy with the Lord of The Rings movie, now that it has been released here in india. Apart from having been trimmed down by some 40++ minutes (that too in a country like India where the average Hindi movie runs 3.5 hours!!!), the ending has left a lot of people feeling cheated. I mean, it’s not like no one knows that there are two more movies coming (in December of 2002 and 2003) – the primary audience of these movies is LOTR fans – there was *no* need for such antics just to ensure that people come for the next movie!

It appears that the people at TVA Help.com have managed to fix my old IBM Thinkpad. As suspected, IBM’s claim that it was a bust motherboard (needing a Rs.113,000 replacement) was just so much hogwash. Total repair bill from TVA Help.com – Rs.2600.

It is tactics like these (plus others, including a failure to adhere to “Truth in Advertising” to even a minimal degree) that has cost them this loyal customer of many years. And I am sure I am not the only one.

Financial yearend is almost upon us. Frantic last minute office purchases in progress.

This weekend, I plan to roll into Reynolds to check out some acoustic nylon-strung guitars. The itch is getting stronger, especially after seeing Paul McCartney performing at the Oscars.

Speaking of the Oscars – it was *really* nice to see Denzyl and Halle smash the glass ceiling for coloured actors by winning the best actor and actress awards. Combined with Sidney Poitier’s award and Whoopie Goldberg’s compering, this was a night to remember!

And yeah, Lagaan didn’t make the final grade. Didn’t really expect it to. One wins by winning, not wishing.

Still haven’t decided where to go for the summer vacations. Shubha would like to go to Ooty, Anjali hates it, and I would like to go home (Germany, to my mom and grandmother) for a few weeks. The latter is largely out for financial reasons – the plot purchase has drained me. Will have to decide soon.

Anjali’s exams are progressing. One over, another one tomorrow. Monday comes the big one – Maths.

Judo The Dog is evidently not happy with his furcoat, given the current heat wave. Maybe I should build a pond for him to lie in during the day. God knows we have the space for it.

Update:It appears that I got a brief mention in the papers today.