Football: Champions league-09

It promised to be a " dream " match and so it was! The two best teams of Europe met to decide who was better .
However last night, I'll take my hat off and salute Barcelona! They outplayed Manchester united in every possible way.
I'm a Manchester united fan, but I'll be honest in admitting that we were mesmerized by Barcelona's passing play. Manchester united lacked the fire power in the front which they're known for.The first ten minutes of the match started on a positive note for Manchester united. They even had a 32 m. free kick by Ronaldo saved but after that it was all Barcelona. Samuel eto destroyed the famed defense of Manchester united and backed his skill with a neat finish. Both teams fresh after winning their respective premierships in their leagues were high on morale!

During the pre-match interview , Sir alex was asked " You've chosen white as your team jersey, the last time Barcelona played any team with whites, they were BEATEN 6-2, is it fair to draw any comparisons?"
Sir alex: " Oh, not Defeated, Annihilated is the word. But that's ok, we're better than madrid! "

Both times were high on confidence heading into the match, but clearly the better team that night won the game!

Barcelona :
For me, the men of the match for them were Xavi and Iniesta! They dominated possesion in the midfield . These techinically gifted players deserved to be only in the winning team !
A word on Messi. Lionel Messi, this was a stern test for him . Is he a big match player? Will he deliver when most needed? why hasn't he ever scored against english teams? Well, He put all those doubts to rest with his stupendous show of pace,control and precision.

Manchester united:
As sad as i am to say this, Manchester united were no where even near our best! In the first half it was more of Ronaldo vs. Barcelona. Where was Rooney? What did Giggs do? Why did Sir alex prefer Tevez over park for the starting XI? These are some questions which will be asked over and again but Manchester united were pretty much clueless about the passing game by Barca.
Van der sar tried his level best and in a way ensured that the score line didn't exceed 2!

Final verdict:
Barcelona are the deserving champions! Manchester united Didn't deserve to win it last night!


All in all, a Brilliant finals to watch!

Movie - Jodhaa Akbar

A good time-pass movie. The movie starts off on a very boring note like a history documentary. But gets a bit interesting as the movie goes on. The movie basically revolves around the relationship between Jalaludhin Mohammad Akbar (Hrithik Roshan) and Jodhaa Bai (Ash, a rajput princess, a Hindu). Akbar marries Jodhaa for the alliance with her father. Jodhaa is devastated being married off to a Muslim who as she says doesn't even know how to put Santoor on her forehead. But, Akbar supports her and doesn't force her to take up Islam even though he faces a lot of criticism from his kin. The two of them start to understand each other quite well.. But, all good stories have an evil step-mother who ruins everything (remember Hansel and Gretel) .... She conspires and separates the two by leveling false charges against Jodhaa and poisoning Akbar's mind. But then good must always triumph over evil and the two unite once more and Akbar wins over an attempt to his throne by his sister's husband and everyone lives happily ever after...
A decent movie.. Has got an ohk story but screenplay could've been better.. The characters do not have much depth and the story is much too obvious. The music is pretty good. Especially the song Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah has a good beat.. The chemistry between the two is pretty good... The climax is quite satisfying to the heart that wants a "everyone lives happily ever after" kind of an ending... But all in all the movie is a bit dragged out and doesn't have much content to sustain prolonged interest..
So verdict 6/10... p.s listen to the song Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah (Its really good)

Movie - Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood has always been a favourite actor of mine for he's one of the leading exponents of the "Kick-the-bad-guy-all-over-the-screen-for-two-hours" acting school. For example, Eastwood exudes cool for the entire 2 1/2 hour duration of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
So talented is he as an actor that he's changed as he's gotten older and he no longer tries to play the 25 year-old chasing 18 year-olds across the screen(cough, Rajni, cough). He's changed the roles he's taken and he's evolved. This movie is arguably his best in the role of 'mean-old-guy'.
He's Walt Kowalski, a Korean war veteran who hates Asians. He's slightly pissed because his neighbourhood is almost entirely Asian and his wife passes away(First scene is the funeral). His liking for his neighbours falls further when the teenager next door, Thao tries to steal his prized vintage sports car, a 1972 Gran Torino as part of a gang initiation.
Thao was reluctant to join in the first place and after his disastrous attempt, left the gang altogether. However, the gang come calling again and try to take him by force and are stopped by bad-ass Kowalski, armed with his M1 Garand rifle. This incident and others lead him to getting to know the Thao and his family better. Thus, this movie show-cases rich new world that can open up when individuals let down their guard, even if for just a moment.
Its not a completely sadhu Eastwood we see, even though he offers his wisdom to the family, he also grants them his protection and he's not afraid to beat the hell out of the bad guys when they come calling.
Gran Torino is a great movie, a critical and commercial ($250 million) success. Its guaranteed to keep you in one spot for a little under 2 hours for it has drama, it has humour and it has strong acting performances. Idhu mele enna venu?

Rating - 9.5

Of Bit-Torrent, Among other things

We at the Thrishul are well aware that there are many out there who cherish the noble cause of wasting time but some lack the tools. For example, its all very well to talk about watching 'A Wednesday' but if its not available on DVD at the local rental library, what do you do? Wait indefinitely for the some channel to show it on TV?
Not a good policy, for sure. There's always the friendly-neighbourhood-thiruttu-vcd-guy who's willing to supply movies but even his selection sometimes suffers from a lack of quality and quantity. As a last resort, there's always the internet!
Which brings us to Bit-Torrent. BitTorrent is a protocol that enables fast downloading of large files using minimum Internet bandwidth. It costs nothing to use and includes no spyware or pop-up advertising.
Unlike other download methods, BitTorrent maximizes transfer speed by gathering pieces of the file you want and downloading these pieces simultaneously from people who already have them. This process makes popular and very large files, such as videos and television programs, download much faster than is possible with other protocols.
BitTorrent works on the principle of tit-for-tat. This means that in order to receive files, you have to give them. This solves the problem of leeching (people downloading but not uploading). With BitTorrent, the more files you share with others, the faster your downloads are. Also, to make better use of available Internet bandwidth (the pipeline for data transmission), BitTorrent downloads different pieces of the file you want simultaneously from multiple computers.
So you want to use it? Read on!

1) Download and install a Bit-Torrent client. This is the software that manages your downloads. I recommend uTorrent, as its small, easy to use, and is fully-featured. Go to http://www.utorrent.com . Its 300 KB, so it should take less than a minute to download. Installation should be over in 10 secs.
2) Find a .torrent file. This is usually 10-50 KB. It doesn't actually hold any video/music or whatever, but points the BT client to the location of people who have the file.
Go to http://www.torrentz.com . Torrentz is a search engine for .torrent files. They don't host it themselves, but point you to sites that do. Search for the file you want. You should give preference to those that have a green tick mark(means verified) and those that have a high number of seeds(the green number).
They give links to sites like the Pirate Bay, Mininova, Isohunt etc. Go to Mininova, download the .torrent file.
3) Double click the .torrent file. The BT client starts the download. Depending on the speed of your connection, you should soon have the files on your computer!

Like most Internet phenomena, BitTorrent has its own jargon. Some of the more common terms related to BitTorrent include:

* Leeches - People who download files but do not share files on their own computer with others
* Seed or seeder - A computer with a complete copy of a BitTorrent file (At least one seed computer is necessary for a BitTorrent download to operate.)
* Swarm - A group of computers simultaneously sending (uploading) or receiving (downloading) the same file
* .torrent - A pointer file that directs your computer to the file you want to download
* Tracker - A server that manages the BitTorrent file-transfer process

Legal Warning: ­ BitTorrent itself is perfectly legal to use. When you select a file to download, however, it is your responsibility to make sure the file not copyrighted.

One last thing. Much thanks to HowStuffWorks.com for help with this article. Their BT article is great, if a little large. I shortened a lot. Link: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/bittorrent.htm/printable

Movie- A Wednesday

A Wednesday is one such movie which you'll not forget after seeing it for a really long time.It's one of the best hindi movies in the recent past.
Inspector Rathod( Anupam Kher) gets a phone call from an anonymous person( Naseeruddin Shah) asking the release of the four anti-national terrorists in lieu of the information of the bombs he claims to have planted across the city. Rathod suspects this to be a prank call, but is shaken up by the anonymous caller when he finds rdx in the building right opposite to him.

He also comes across a wannabe t.v. reporter and promises her that " this would be the most important day of her life ".Rathod finally gives in to the demand of the caller and puts two of his best man Arif(Jimmy shergil) and Jai( Ameer basheer ) to hand over those 4 terrorists to the caller. The caller tells them to get the 4 terrorists to the juhu aviation centre.
Arif doesn't want to risk it, he pulls up one of the terrorists and leaves the other three and plans on releasing the fourth terrorist only when he gets the full details of the bomb location.
Does he get to know of the bomb locations?
Why does the caller want the custody of those four terrorsits?
Why does he want only those four?

Watch this edge-of-a-seat thriller . I swear you'll not regret it.

The perfomences in this movie by Naseerudin shah and Anupam kher stand out. These veteran actors really prove it that its not just the big bucks which make a movie a big hit, but you need to know to ACT!

Ill give this movie a solid 9/10
Go watch it :)

Book - Bourne Identity

This is without doubt "THE BEST BOOK" I have ever read.

This post is going to be short as I don't want to reveal much about the book and spoil the book for you.

The story starts off with "Mr.X", our hero barely surviving an attempt at his life and get washed ashore onto a small town with only one doctor. I call him "Mr.X" because he himself does not remember his name. And that's not the only thing he doesn't remember.

Things start getting interesting when he starts discovering his talents/instincts. Who is he? And how is he able to do what ever he is able to do? He embarks on a journey to discover himself.

To put it in a nut shell:
Bourne is a man with no past.
He wants to know who he is.
And that might just kill him.

I'll give this book a 10/10. A MUST MUST read.
Cain is for Charlie and Delta is for Cain.

Game - Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

So we're done introducing the admins and since this blog is devoted to the art/science of wasting time, let me waste no more time in posting!
This blog is devoted to the art of wasting time and my favourite way of accomplishing that noble deed has been playing video games. So, without further ado, let me start on the review of Warcraft III.
In a nutshell: this game is Age of Empires on steroids. Most of you have played that classic game where you start out with a few villagers, you gather resources (gold, wood etc), you build your base, then your army and try and wipe out your enemy's army. A very good formula and the developers of this game, Blizzard, perfected it.
There are 4 factions in this game, each having a campaign centred around it. The human alliance, which comprises the high elves, dwarves and the humans is controlled first and its your job to roam around the place as Crown Prince Arthas, trying to find out what the strange disease affecting the populace is all about.
Make no mistake, the story, told with the help of cut-scenes is almost movie-like and will constantly throw you twists and turns. For example, you see the green dude up there? Yeah, he's the good guy! Although Thrall, who is the warchief of the Orcish Horde (comprised of the orcs, the trolls and minotaurs called the tuaren) may drool a lot and look evil, he's just looking out for his people and tries his best to avoid fighting(fortunately, he has to fight).
Next comes the Undead, a mix of human occultists and their zombie creations. Their goal? To try and take over the world! Bet you weren't expecting that...
And lastly, the Night elves, a race of warrior druids who are the guardians of the world and take it upon themselves to defeat those undead guys.
What truly makes this game truly different, however, is the inclusion of hero units. For instance, Prince Arthas is more powerful than other units and becomes more powerful as you complete more and more missions by unlocking special abilities along the way. Other races have their own unique heroes too, such as the Warchief of the orcs, the Dreadlord of the Undead and the Demon Hunter of the Night Elves. These add a new dimension to the game, making it a different experience every single time.
Once you're done with the campaign, you can play random games with the computer or with you friends over the internet. There are a whole gamut of maps to choose from, including the uber-popular Defense of the Ancients map.
A truly special game, one that's a must-play! So go out there and begin the Reign of Chaos!

Score - 8/10
Time waste possible - 20 to 25 hours

Introducing Time Killer ...

Name: Krishna Sundarram
Pseudonym: Time Killer

Post Held: EX - School Pupil Leader of PS Senior
Also Known as: K-Dawg, Peter, Shakespeare (no not akash Chopra :D)

Strengths:
- His exceptional ability to speak fluently the language called English, which for low life forms is quite hard to follow.
- His ability to get head shots out of no where while playing counter strike.
- His ability to argue and manage to convince people. People tend to look up at him and follow his lead.
- His impeccable sense of right and wrong.
- He knows his Strengths & weaknesses.

Weaknesses:
- He tends to get carried away a bit.
- Amazing skill at football and bowling(cricket :P).
- Get cranky at times(read as quite often).
Well i don't want to expose to many of his weaknesses so we'll stop here :D...

Watch out for his posts... His English is AMAZING and has a BRILLIANT sense of humor...
He'll be doing books, movies and games...

Keep Reading, Keep following and please comment...

Introducing Sir Havangar!

Hello. It's time to start cracking up on one of our fellow admin's.

Name : Sir havangar, Real name : Sriraghavan.

Strengths:

• His self confidence
• His avid interest in cricket
• His attitude towards life!
• Mathematics
• He can play to the fool when he wants, but knows when its time to get serious !
• Awesome Goalkeeper( His idol is oliver kahn :P )
• He supports Saurav ganguly !
  

Weaknesses:

• His organizational abilities ( the time's when he organizes football, and Oh the TFE- nuff said :P )
• Quite easily influenced by others
• punctuality
• He supports KKR :P

In this blog, Sir Havangar will be doing books, games and few matches.
Watch out for Sir havangar's quick wit and yes, he'll relate almost anything and everything to cricket!
He's the Creative One!

Introducing Mr. V

Name : Varun Vaitheeswaran
Pseudonym : Mr. V

Strengths:

• Legendary people skills
  
• Speed - in speaking, writing and typing
  
• Very Loyal
• GOD of all sporting activities
• GOD of all Cultural activities
• Has Encyclopedic knowledge of movies, WWE, Friends and the Internet(He wrote Wikipedia single-fingered-ly)
  

Weaknesses:

• Doesn't believe in reading much
• Doesn't pass when playing football (This practice is known as 'gaaji')
• Puts peanuts excessively!
• Dismisses games, cartoons and animation in general as 'kiddish'
• Supports Manchester United
  

Opportunites and Training:

• Nah, just kidding

In This Blog, Mr. V will do Movies, Matches, and anything else that he can think of.