Come closer...

Just got back from watching the stage version of the film Closer, performed by Bangalore's Black Coffee Productions. Good stuff, in my opinion. Darius, however, sucks.
More importantly, though... MSN Messenger 7.0 Skins! Get them here. There are loads of them, all packaged in nifty little installers. My current favourite: Tiger MSN Aqua.

Get Over It

What is it with people and their concerns about privacy? Every second IT company worth their salt these days is being sued or coming under fire from the public and the media for posing a threat to peoples' personal information. Perhaps there are some related issues I'm not clear on, but still, the article I've linked to below mentions how Google might compromise people by providing personal details to the government. I don't see how its a huge problem. For one, the government can anyway use Google (or any search engine) to find personal details about people, that they may have submitted or posted online. Secondly, so what if the government knows about you? How would it matter to them whether or not you enjoy looking at pictures of little girls and ponies?
I can see how this might inconvenience a criminal/fugitive, but isn't that a good thing? Besides, I'm sure Google can't provide terribly confidential information like your credit card and so on. Where's the problem?

See the Yahoo! article here.

Weekend Film Fest

I watched some really good movies over the weekend, though I have mid-semester tests on...

• 
  Madagascar (Animated) - Voices by Ben Stiller/Chris Rock/Jada Pinkett-Smith/David Schwimmer : Directed by Eric Darnell

A very cute film about 4 animals that escape from New York's Central Park Zoo to go live in the wild. Things don't go as they expect, and its a fun roller-coaster ride all the way. 3.5/5

• 
  Constantine - Keanu Reeves / Rachel Weisz : Directed by Francis Lawrence

A gripping plot, neat twists, fabulous special effects, Rachel Weisz... very good stuff. Keabu is a bit too wooden though, and his character could have been better established. Still, I loved this one! 4/5

• 
  Raghu Romeo - Vijay Raaz / Maria Goretti / Saurabh Shukla : Directed by Rajat Kapoor

Rip-roaring comedy, with some of the most absurd moments in Bollywood history. Very feel-good, with marvellous dialogues and sequences. A must-see! 4.5/5

• 
  Papillon - Steve McQueen / Dustin Hoffman : Directed by Franklin J Schaffner

A true classic, with a brilliant performance by McQueen. It does get a bit trying towards the middle, but picks up the pace again, to keep you on the edge of your couch. Good stuff! 3.5/5

Googleness!

Google is taking over my PC. And fast. And I can't wait till my computer is completely Googlified, simply because every single product of theirs is so damn good. The company has a brilliant attitude towards projects and customers, and their efforts are truly inspiring. Everything they do, from the idea of expanding from just the quickest and most efficient search engine to providing the best email service, the most innovative planet-mapping software and more, seems just ingenious. And as I said before, I can't wait till they create software for just about everything I need.
Google stuff I use:

• Google Search
• Gmail
• Google Talk
• Google Desktop Search
• Blogger
• Orkut
• Picasa
• Google Personalised Homepage
• Google Suggest
• Google Toolbar
• Google Earth
• Google Translate

In short, I'm just waiting for their media player and OS. Click here to check out all of Google's services and products (did I mention they're free?), and here to check out projects in progress.
I love how they launch their products in a quiet, unobtrusive way. Google now offers all the extra services that older search portals like Yahoo, MSN and Excite do, but unless you want them, you don't even have to know of their existence. Google products also offer convergence, but if thats not your thing, turn it off. Its that simple. I love this brand!

Talk the talk

The folks at Google have done it again: a brilliant take on an existing product/service that scores over everything else out there. This time, its an Instant Messenger with VoIP, called Google Talk. Its still in its beta phase, but the voice chat works fantastically well. Get it here. Once you've got the hang of it, you can check out CustomizeTalk to, well, um, customize Talk (with skins and plug-ins). Note: Google Talk requires Win2k/xp, but can be connected to using other clients for Mac and Linux. Enjoy.
I wonder how long Google will take to develop an OS and thereby ostracize Microsoft? Let it happen!