[007] ::Daedalus::Tinkerbell::Google Earth::

"You Can Fly!"
- The Jud Conlon Chorus (Peter Pan)

Peter Pan was quite confused when he found
out Wendy and the kids can not fly!
With the little help from the magic
dust of Tinkerbell they managed to
fly to Neverland somehow.

But for others, its still a dream to come true.

It all started with the wish of flying high.
Freedom was definitely one of the reasons.
Freedom from the bindings of gravity.
But another reason was definitely to see
the earth from the eyes of the God.
How does it look from heaven?

It remains as an addiction throughout the
course of human civilization.

Though Daedalus managed it, his son Icarus
lost his life flying too high.
And then came...
Armen Firman, Leonardo da Vinci,
Lagari Hasan Çelebi, Montgolfier,
Renard & Krebs, Otto Lilienthal,
Santos-Dumont, Wright brothers...
and many many more...

Wings, Balloons, Gliders, Zeppelin, Planes...
All the additions in the quest of flying high...
Observing Earth from Heaven...

Now, we really can fly (even after 9/11).

I flew.
Was definitely an exciting experience for the first time.
But then I found out its not as exciting as people may
think it is.
First, its rarely you, who fly the plane.
Second, you don't see much of earth. Those
tiny oval windows are not much of help.
Third, there are also clouds.
Fourth, you can not control your height.
Fifth, you can not fly over wherever you want to.
Sixth, you have to wait for hours in boring airports.
The list goes on...

And my dad is also not anyone like Daedalus.
So?
Solution?

The modern day marvel, or the Daedalus of
21st century, is Google.
This internet phenomena gives us so many wonders
of the world: more than 2 Giga of mailbox,
finding information about literally anything
with a snap and even this blog.
But the most fascinating is "Google Earth".

What is Google Earth?
If you don't know already, Google Earth is a
visionary project by Google, to combine all
the terra-pixel satellite photos of mother
earth and then make them public.
Its a free-of-charge, downloadable virtual
globe program. It maps the entire earth by
pasting images obtained from satellite imagery,
aerial photography and GIS over a 3D globe.

So why I call it the Daedalus of 21st century?
Hmmm...
It gives you the liberty to fly...
Anywhere you want.
Whenever you want.
And however close or far you want.

The first place, most people observe after
downloading Google Earth, is their own houses.
But then it becomes an addiction.
You can not stop looking for newer places.

(Wanna see where I live in Sweden? Click here!
The building in the center of the photo is my house.
Zoom in or Zoom out to get a better idea.
BTW, this link is by Google Map. A similar service
by Google, but online, thus needs a browser.)

If You don't have Google Earth you can download
it from here (earth.google.com).

There is no worry, as your wax-wings won't melt
if you fly too close to the Sun! Also, Tinkerbell
can rest happily as we don't need her dust anymore.

Viva Google Earth!

Explore!
Enjoy!

"You can fly!"

/J

[006] [ LAUNDRY ]

I never thought the process of washing one's clothes can
require this much of exploitation of one's grey-matter.
Trust me its true! I am not kidding!

When I was living back in Dhaka, I never used to think,
how my clothes are being cleaned or ironed or even put
in nicely arranged pressed sets in my wardrobes.

The only 'labor' I had to do is to 'throw' my used
clothes in a dirty-clothes-bin in my bathroom. And about
my towels or sheets, I didn't even have to do that much
'labor' either. "Somehow" "someone" took care of them and
they were always clean.

How fascinating!

Then, I took this revolutionary step in my life.
I decided to step out of the cocoon and made my
dream of 'knowing-different-parts-of-this-world'
come true. The dream itself sounds very charming,
but in reality it came along with its fair-share
of nightmares.

One of the top contenders for this nightmare-list
is washing clothes. In a word 'laundry'.
Yes, you heard me right.
Its not language-barrier.
Its not cultural shock.
Its not racism problem.
Its Laundry.

As I was never involved with this process before,
I somehow grew this perception that, it must be
very easy and consumes no/minimal time and does
not need any scheduling, training or brain-work.
How wrong and stupid I was(still am)!
Someone up there was just smiling at me!

So, when my landlord was done showing me the rest
of our new flat, he took me for the visit to the laundry
room in our basement and I thought he did something
very wrong and we were somewhere inside a nuclear
power plant. It was even below the ground level.

It took me about five minutes to realize we were
actually NOT inside a power station but JUST
inside a laundry room.

The whole laundry place in Swedish is called 'tvättstuga'.
(I am sorry if I misspelled, and you personally figure
out how to pronounce it, don't ask me).

It is not just one room. Its actually a whole suit of rooms.
It has total four rooms alongside a corridor including
a washing room, two dryer rooms and a pressing room.

It took me quite a while to figure out the whole process.
Its a bit simpler than learning how to fly an aero plane.
But I will try to describe it in brief steps here.

One: You wear your clothes and make them dirty and stinky
enough for washing.

Two: You start depositing them in a cloth-basket in your flat.

Three: When the basket is about 75% full, you must book the
time-slot in advance in the 'tvättstuga'.(Yes! Thats mandatory.
Its Sweden. You need to get in a cue for every service.)

Four: You also have to make sure you buy the proper washing
powder and detergents for your clothes. This is a whole new
complex process. I will not get into details here. I always
buy this normal detergent which can wash color, white, black
every type of clothes.

Five: Its THE day. Your washing day has arrived. You need to
take the basket, which should already be overflowed by now,
to tvättstuga.

Six: Go to the Washing room. There are two different washing
machines. Put colorful clothes in one. And the less colorful
or white clothes in the other. Don't ask me why. Thats how its
been done for hundred years. I just follow the tradition.

Seven: Once the washing machine is full and you can not stuff
any more of your dirty, stinky clothes in it, try to close the
lead somehow.

Eight: There are a number of wholes on top of the machine.
Choose one randomly. And then put some(!) washing powder in it.
Here you need to follow the 'salt-as-per-your-taste' method.
That is 'powder-as-per-your-dirt' in this case.

Nine: Now you have some bigger problem. The washing machine
DOES look like a mainframe computer. It has about two hundred
buttons. So, pray for a while and ask for God's forgiveness and
then press a button(any) while your eyes are closed. It works
for me every time. So, don't worry.
Do the same for both machines.

Ten: The holy work just started. You can confirm it by hearing
the lovely splashing sound of water-flow inside the washing
machines. Its cool. You can even look inside it through the
glass window installed in its front. Its an amazing view.
Don't miss it if its your first time.

Eleven: Now the work has just begun, you can come back home
and finish the last fifty pages of your recent paperback
or watch a movie. You can also have some pizza by this time.
Come on! It needs some time. Its not just any errand you do
everyday. It’s THE laundry.

Twelve: So, now you are done with everything, pizza, movie,
book, picking your nose and all. So you can get back to
tvättstuga. Don't forget to pray one more time in this stage.

Thirteen: Its the unlucky stage. Here you will reveal if you
have done any stupid mistake with the main-frame computer.
I meant the washing machine.
Go near the machine. Try to listen if anything is happening
or not. It should be dead-silent now. Not even any light
humming sound. Cool?
OK. Now open the lead. As I said its the unlucky stage, you may
now reveal that all your white clothes are quite colorful
and the colorful clothes lost their colors and brightness.
Never mind. It happens. Its just part of life.
Take it easy.

Fourteen: After you are done cursing yourself, take the wet
clothes out and put them in the trolleys. You now need to
move to the second room(s). That is the Dryer room(s).

Fifteen: This part is again a bit complex. But I figured it
out now. There are three kind of dryers. One is called
tumble-dryer. It looks like a washing machine but does not
have any glass window. The second one is a closet-like
machine. It has racks inside it and has a fan on top of
it which produce hot-air-flow. The third one is not any
machine. Its a big room with two big fans in two ends
and has lots of wire to hang your wet clothes. Which
dryer you will choose for which clothes, you need to
figure that out by yourself when you are in the field.
If you can not, you better not divulge yourself in
doing laundry. Be stuck with your C++ programming.
Thats easier.

Sixteen: So you are done putting all the clothes in proper
dryers(!). Turn them on. Again sort out which button from
an array of buttons. After that, you have some more time
to finish the pizza you could not finish back then.
Go back home and watch a new movie. Or a baseball game.
Finish the pizza too.

Seventeen: Time to go again and figure out the situation.
Go near tvättstuga. In this stage you should look for some
smoke coming out from tvättstuga. Also look for any funny
burning smell. Its nothing. Just a routine-check.
If everything seems under control, approach the dryers.
Open them and check if your clothes are really dry now.

Eighteen: You are almost in the end of the process.
I will just describe how I, myself, do the laundry.
Not the common orthodox-practice. Thats for moms.
I am assuming all your clothes are properly dried.
If not, the funguses will be happy to find a new
habitat for them. Put the dry clothes in that basket
again. Time to go back home. Just remember after going
back home you may reveal instead of having six pairs
of socks you now have five and half pairs of them.
Thats part of life too.
(The orthodox process includes the fourth room in the
nuclear power plant, which is the pressing room. I am
yet to discover how to use that. Check my blog for
updates.)

Nineteen: I am just assuming you are as lucky as me.
And instead of having five and half pair of socks,
you have just five pairs of socks intact. Don't expect
to get back all six pairs intact. People nowadays
expect too much from life.

Twenty: Try to flatten your clothes a bit. And then try
to fold them nicely. Just try. Forget about all those
nice images of clothes you had when you were back home
with mom. So, try for a while. Get as close as you can
with this process. And then start stuffing them back
again in your wardrobes. If they are stuffed tightly
enough, they will be pressed by themselves.

So, that was Laundry in JUST “Twenty Easy Steps”.

Now some history of this much-acclaimed technology.
Quoting from Wiki.
"The first British patent under the category of Washing
and Wringing Machines was issued in 1691. In 1782 Henry
Sidgier was issued a British patent for a rotating drum
washer. The first United States Patent titled 'Clothes
Washing' was granted to Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire
in 1797. The electric washing machine was first mass
produced in 1906."

And about dryer. From Wiki again.
"The first tumble dryer, a hand-cranked version was created
in 1799 by a Frenchman named Pochon. Electric tumble dryers
appeared in the 20th century."

(for operating symbols of the mainframe computer-look-alike
machines, you can check the following site. To me its Hebrew.
http://www.textileaffairs.com/c-common.htm)

1691...1782...1799...1906...20th Century...
I am a lucky human being that I have washing machines and
dryers. I am just waiting for the scientists to invent a
machine which can press and make my clothes 'home-like'
without much hassle. May be fifty more years.

Till then...
Hail Laundry! Hail Tvättstuga! Hail Mom too (Miss you)!

[005] 'Puff, the Magic Dragon'

There are loadza things those I missed when I was a kid!
Loadza good books. Loadza good movies. Loadza good music.
It was a bit tough to get all those things back in eighties
in Bangladesh(বাংলাদেশ). But well, I had my fair-share. I was damn
happy as a kid. Quite privileged I must mention!
Even after missing all those stuffs.

But, missing all those things, has a good side as well.
Now when I am grown-up(am I?) and come to hear, read or
watch the things which I missed back then, I have such
amazing feelings every time. I get my surprises and amazements
every time I found something like that. I feel like I am still a kid.

Trust me, in this google-days, its getting tough to tougher to get
surprises in your mundane, well-structured, technology-fueled daily life.

One of those missed gems of my childhood is "Puff, The Magic Dragon".
Its a song. From sixties. From long before I was even born.
So how come I missed it? I don't know. Anyway...however!

So, Puff, is a magic dragon. He lives by the see in Honah Lee.
He has a magical breath, like most other dragons, and thus he got his
name. He had a little boy as his friend named Jackie Paper. But when
Jackie grew up, he lost his interest in the imaginary adventures of his
childhood with Puff. Like most of the people in this world.
And unlike me!

Everyone, when they were kids, had a Puff. It could be a dragon.
Could be a train. Could be a flying car or a fairy or a Plane.
Mine was a Robot. I always wanted to buy a robot for me.
I even made my mom promise to sell her jewelry to buy me
the robot. The robot who would be my friend as well as a slave,
and who would listen to me everytime I wanna tell it something.
Well, luckily they were not selling robot in mass market back
then. So my mom was pretty lucky I suppose.

"Puff, the Magic Dragon" was a song by "Peter, Paul and Mary".
It became an instant hit when it came out in 1963. Its actually
adopted from a poem written by a Cornell student Leonard Lipton.

Funny thing is, you must know, the song is believed by many people
a reference to smoking marijuana(!). It even became a hippie anthem.
Though the band denied any intentional drug reference again and again.
Even during their stage performances. But it remains an urban legend.
'Puff'...the 'magic' 'dragon'...ring any bell?
Why shouldn't there be any rumor?

Anyway...those crazy hippies!

Now when I feel sad, or miss my home, or just miss being a kid,
I listen to the amazing 'Puff, The Magic Dragon'.
(Click on it to download a legal sample of the song.
Its in '.ogg' format. So you will need WinAmp.)

Jackie forgot Puff. I still want a robot. Mom?

/J

[004] ::HELP::Movies::

I need Help.

But you have to say the Oath first...
"I, (your name), hereby pledge that,
no matter what secret I will learn now,
I will never disclose it to MPAA (Motion
Pictures Association of America)."

OK. So now you are harmless.

I need your help with my movie-collection.
I am an obsessive movie-downloader.
I download movies like a maniac by using torrents.
But now I am running out of movies to download.

Torrent, if you don’t know already, is a new
savior for music-movie-book lovers. But its not
THE savior. Its the temple of pirates. But, it does
not have all those movies one wants. Most of the
time its full of pop-stuffs, mainstream thingies.
But, well...why should I complain!
After all its all free!

Now, you should know that, I have downloaded quite
a few movies in last couple of months.
The number is not that bad!
Its 517 so far. Yeah! 5-1-7! You saw that right!

But you can not say that to MPAA. The Oath. Remember?

Now what I am doing, I am asking people to name me
ten of their most favorite movies. Then I double-check
with my list. If I have it, great. If I don’t, then I add it
in my wish list. And then I start my pursuit in the endless
universe of torrent-trackers.

You can have a look at the list of movies those
I've already downloaded and also at my ‘Wish-List’.
[Most movies are in English with few exceptions of
some French, German and Spannish.]

[Disclaimer: The list below is the List of movies I HAVE in my Collection. It does not mean I have SEEN only these movies in my life. If I would make a list of that, it would be tenfolds longer. Another point, the list also does not ensure I have SEEN all of them. I HAVE them. And watching them one by one. And at the same time increasing the collection. Movies don't come with expiry dates. So its no harm collecting them. The above words also applied for my Wish List below. I may have seen most of them but do not HAVE them in my Collection and wanna ADD it.]

===My Movie List===
10 Things I Hate About You; 12 Angry Men; 16 Blocks; 2001 : A Space Odyssey; 28 Days Later; 3000 Miles To Graceland; 36 China Town; 9/11 – Loose Chance; A.I. Artificial Intelligence; A Beautiful Mind; A Bug’s Life; A Cinderella Story; A Fistful of Dollars; A History of Violence; A Lot Like Love; A Love Song For Bobby Long; Adams Aebler – Adam's Apple; Aeon Flux; After The Sunset; Aladdin; Alexander; All About My Mother(Todo Sobre Mi Madre); All Quiet on the Western Front; Alone In The Dark; American Beauty; American Dreams; American Pie(1); American Pie (2) 2; American Pie(3) American Wedding; American Pie(4) Presents Band Camp; American Splendor; Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy; Anger Management; Antz; Apocalypse Now; Aquamarine; As Good As It Gets; Ask The Dust; Austin Powers 1 – International Man of Mystery; Austin Powers 2 – Goldmember; Austin Powers 3 – The Spy Who Shagged Me; Back to The Future 1; Back to The Future 2; Back to The Future 3; Bad Santa; Bandidas; Basic Instinct; Basic Instinct – 2; Batman; Batman and Robin; Batman Begins; Batman Forever; Batman Returns; Beauty and The Beast; Behind Enemy Lines; Beowulf And Grendel; Better Than Chocolate; Big Momma’s House – 2; Black Hawk Down; Blade Runner; Block Party; Blood Rayne; Boiler Room; Braindead[Dead Alive]; BraveHeart; Breakfast at Tiffany’s; Breaking Up; Brokeback Mountain; Brother Bear; Brothers Grimm; Caligula; Capote; Carlito’s Way; Cars; Casablanca; Casanova; Cast Away; Chaos; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Cheaper By The Dozen; Cheaper By The Dozen 2; Chicken Little; Citizen Kane; City Of Angels; City Of God; Click; Close Encounters of The Third Kind; Closer; Commando; Como Agua Para Chocolate; Con Air; Constantine; Corpse Bride (Tim Burton's); Crash; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Cruel Intentions; Dark Water; Dead Man Walking; Dead Poets Society; Death Ride; Deep Water; Derailed; Desperado; Die Hard – 1; Die Hard – 2; Die Hard – 3; Dirty; Dirty Dancing; Dirty Harry; Dog Day Afternoon; Dogma; Domino; Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb; Dragon Fly; E. T. – The Extra-Terrestrial; EarthSea; Edison Force; Edward Scissorhands; Eight Below; El Crimen Del Padre Amaro; Elektra; Elephant’s Dream; Elizabethtown; Enemy of The State; Enron – The Smartest Guys in The Room; Enter The Dragon; Euro Trip; Evil’s City; Exorcist 1: The Exorcist; Exorcist 2: Exorcist II - The Heretic; Exorcist 3: Exorcist - The Beginning; Exorcist 4: Dominion - Prequel To The Exorcist; Face Off; Fahrenheit 9/11; Failure To Launch; Family Guy; Fanaa [Hindi]; Fantastic Four ..; Fargo; Ferris Bueller’s Day-Off; Fight Club; Final Destination – 1; Final Destination – 2; Final Destination – 3; Final Fantasy VII – Advent Children; Final Fantasy VII – Last Order; Find Me Guilty; Finding Nemo; Firewall; Flight Plan; Fools Rush In; For A Few Dollars More; Forest Gump; Fragile; Freedom Land; Frida; From Dusk Till Dawn; From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money; From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter; Full Monty; Fun With Dick and Jane; Gangster [Hindi]; Getting Played; Ghetto; Gladiator; Glengarry, Glen Ross; Glory Road; Goal – The Dream Begins; Gone in 60 Seconds; Gone With The Wind; Good Night and Good Luck; Goodbye Lenin; Goodfellas; Grease; Green Street Hooligans; Grilled; Happy Gilmore; Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle; Harry Potter(1) and The Sorcerer’s Stone; Harry Potter(2) and The Chamber of Secrets; Harry Potter(3) and The Prisoner of Azkaban; Harry Potter(4) and The Goblet of Fire; Head Space; Heat; Hercules; Hide and Seek; Hideous Kinky; Hitler – The Raise of Evil; Hoodwinked; Hostel; Hot Shots; Hot Shots – Part Deux; Hotel Rwanda; House of Wax; Ice Age; Ice Age 2 – The Meltdown; In The Time of The Butterflies; Indiana Jones(1) Raiders of The Lost Ark; Indiana Jones(2) and The Temple of Doom; Indiana Jones(3) and The Last Crusade; Inside Man; Iris; James Bond (01) Dr. No [1962] Sean Connery; James Bond (02) From Russia with Love [1963] Sean Connery; James Bond (03) Goldfinger [1964] Sean Connery; James Bond (04) Thunderball [1965] Sean Connery; James Bond (05) You Only Live Twice [1967] Sean Connery; James Bond (06) On Her Majesty's Secret Service [1969] George Lazenby; James Bond (07) Diamonds Are Forever [1971] Sean Connery; James Bond (08) Live and Let Die [1973] Roger Moore; James Bond (09) The Man with the Golden Gun [1974] Roger Moore; James Bond (10) The Spy Who Loved Me [1977] Roger Moore; James Bond (11) Moonraker [1979] Roger Moore; James Bond (12) For Your Eyes Only [1981] Roger Moore; James Bond (13) Octopussy [1983] Roger Moore; James Bond (14) A View to a Kill [1985] Roger Moore; James Bond (15) The Living Daylights [1987] Timothy Dalton; James Bond (16) License to Kill [1989] Timothy Dalton; James Bond (17) Golden Eye [1995] Pierce Brosnan; James Bond (18) Tomorrow Never Dies [1997] Pierce Brosnan; James Bond (19) The World Is Not Enough [1999] Pierce Brosnan; James Bond (20) Die Another Day [2002] Pierce Brosnan; Jarhead; Jersey Girl; Jurassic Park(1); Jurassic Park(2) The Lost World; Jurassic Park (3) III; Just Friends; Just Like Heaven; Just My Luck; Kids in America; Kill Bill vol. 1; Kill Bill vol. 2; King Arthur ..; King Kong; Kingdom of Heaven; Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; Kung Fu Hustle; L. A. Confidential; Labyrinth; Last Holiday ..; Laws of Attraction; Layer Cake; Life is Beautiful; Lilo and Stitch; Lion King; Lion King 2 – Simba’s Pride; Lion King 3; Little Fish; Little Manhattan; Little Nicky; Lolita; Lord of The Rings(1) – The Fellowship of The Ring; Lord of The Rings(2) – The Two Towers; Lord of The Rings(3) – The Return of The King; Lord of War; Lords Of Dogtown; Lost In Translation; Lucky Number Slevin; March of The Penguins; Master and Commander The Far Side of The World; Match Point; Matrix(1); Matrix(2) Reloaded; Matrix(3) Revolutions; Mean Streets; Meet The Fockers; Meet The Parents; Memento; Memoirs of A Geisha; Men In Black; Men In Black II; Merlin's Apprentice; Midaq Alley; Minority Report; Mirrormask; Mission : Impossible; Mission : Impossible II; Mission : Impossible III; Monster; Monster Inc.; Monster-in-Law; Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975); Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979); Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983); Moulin Rouge; Mr. & Mrs. Smith; Mulan; Munich; My Big Fat Greek Wedding; Mysterious Island .; Nacho Libre; Nanny McPhee; National Treasure; North by Northwest; North Country; Notorious; Notting Hill; Ocean's Eleven; Ocean's Twelve; Oliver Twist; On The Waterfront; Once Upon A Time In Mexico; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Over The Hedge; People I Know; Peter Pan; Pink Flamingos; Pinocchio; Pirates Of The Caribbean 1 – The Curse of The Black Pearl; Pirates Of The Caribbean 2 – Dead Man's Chest; Population 436; Poseidon; Pretty Woman; Pride and Prejudice; Prince of Egypt; Proof; Pulp Fiction; Que Viva Mexico; Raging Bull; Rain Man; Rang De Basanti [Hindi]; Rashômon; Rear Window; Rebel Without a Cause; Requiem for a Dream; Reservoir Dogs; Revolver; Rocky I; Rocky II; Rocky III; Rocky IV; Rocky V; Room 6; Rumor Has It; Running Scared; RV; Sahara; Saving Private Ryan; Saw; Saw 2; Scarface; Scary Movie – 1; Scary Movie – 2; Scary Movie – 3; Scary Movie – 4; Schindler's List; School of Rock; Se7en; Second-in-Command; Secret Window; Serenity; Serpico; Severed; Shall We Dance?; She's The Man; Shrek; Shrek 2; Sin City; Sleepless in Seattle; Sleepy Hollow; Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs; Something New; Speed; Spiderman; Spiderman – 2; Spy Kids I; Stalingrad; Star Wars I – The Phantom Menace; Star Wars II – Attack of The Clones; Star Wars III – Revenge of The Sith; Star Wars IV – A New Hope; Star Wars V – The Empire Strikes Back; Star Wars VI – Return of The Jedi; Stay; Stay Alive; Stealth; Super Size Me; Superman Returns; Sweet Insanity; Sweet November; Syriana; Taxi Driver; Terminator; Terminator 2 – Judgment Day; Terminator 3 – Rise of The Machines; That Thing You Do!; The 40 Year-Old Virgin; The Amityville Horror; The Aviator; The Benchwarmer; The Bicycle Thief (Ladri Di Biciclette); The Big Lebowski; The Blair Witch Project; The Bourne Identity; The Bourne Supremacy; The Break-Up; The Business; The Cave; The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe; The Corporation; The Da Vinci Code; The Dark Crystal; The Date Movie; The Descent; The Devil's Advocate; The Dudesons Movie; The Dukes of Hazard; The English Patient; The Family Stone; The French Connection – Il Braccio Violento Della Legge; The Godfather – Part I; The Godfather – Part II; The Godfather – Part III; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly; The Graduate; The Great Raid; The Green Mile; The Grudge; The Guns of Navarone; The Hills Have Eyes; The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy; The Hole; The Ice Harvest; The Incredibles; The Indian in The Cupboard; The Interpreter; The Iron Giant; The Island; The Italian Job (1969); The Italian Job (2003); The Jungle Book; The Jungle Book – 2; The Lady Killers; The Last of The Mohicans; The Libertine; The Life of Adolph Hitler; The Life of David Gale; The Little Mermaid; The Longest Yard; The Matador; The Most Unromantic Man In The World; The Mummy; The Mummy Returns; The Naked Gun; The Naked Gun 2 ½ – The Smell of Fear; The Naked Gun 33 1/3 – The Final Insult; The New World; The Ninth Gate; The Notebook; The Omen(2006); The Pacifier; The Passion of The Christ; The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak; The Pianist; The Pink Panther; The Prophecy – Uprising; The Punisher; The Recruit; The Ring; The Ringer; The Road to Guantanamo; The Rock; The Shaggy Dog; The Shawshank Redemption; The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants; The Sixth Sense; The Skeleton Key; The Sound of Music; The Ten Commandments; The Terminal; The Thing; The Thomas Crown Affair(1999); The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada; The Truman Show; The Usual Suspects; The Weatherman; There's Something About Mary; Thirteen; Three; Top Gun; Toy Story; Toy Story 2; Traffic; Transamerica; Transformers – The Movie; Tristan & Isolde; Tristram Shandy – A Cock and Bull Story; Troy; True Lies; Twisted; Two For The Money; Ultraviolet; Underworld(1); Underworld(2) Evolution; V For Vendetta; Van Wilder; Vanilla Sky; Venom; Waiting; Walk The Line; Wallace and Gromit – The Curse of the Were-Rabbit; War of The Worlds; Wedding Crashers; What Dreams May Come; When A Stranger Calls; Where The Truth Lies; Wizard Of Oz; World’s Fastest Indian; X-Men 1; X-Men 2 – X-Men United; X-Men 3 – The Last Stand; Y Tu Mama Tambien; You've Got Mail; Zathura; Zorro(1) The Mask of Zorro; Zorro(2) The Legend of Zorro
==============

===My Wish List===
A Walk in The Clouds; All About Eve; All The President's Men; Almost Famous; Amelie; Apollo 13; Autumn in New York ; Bedazzled; Before Sunrise; Before Sunset; Ben-Hur; Beyond Borders; Big Fat Liar; Big Momma's House - 1; Charlie Chaplin (Collection); Charlie's Angels 1; Charlie's Angels 2; Chicago; Chocolat; Cleopatra; Come September; Dangerous Liaisons; Do The Right Thing; Donny Brasco; Don't Tempt ME; Escape from Alcatraz; Fatal Attraction; Finding Neverland; Gandhi; George Wallace; Ghost; Good Will Hunting; Good Will Hunting; Hitchcock, Alfred (Collection); Home Alone 1; Home Alone 2; Home Alone 3; I Am Sam; Independence Day; Kramer vs. Kramer; Lawrence of Arabia; Madagascar; Meet Me In St. Louis; Mighty Joe Young; My Best Friends Wedding; My Fair Lady; Nashville; Never Been Kissed; Raise The Red Lantern; Roman Holiday; Romeo + Juliet; Satyajit Roy (Collection); Say Anything; Shakespeare in Love; Sleuth; Some Like It Hot; Someone Like You...; Spy Kids II; Spy Kids III; The Bone Collector ; The Breakfast Club; The Bridge on The River Kwai; The Bridges of Madison County; The Charge of The Light Brigade; The Cider House Rules; The Fall of the Roman Empire; The King of Comedy; The Last Samurai; The Legend of Bagger Vance; The Outlaw Josey Wales ; The Patriot; The Player; The Poseidon Adventure; The Towering Inferno; Titanic; Trading Places; True Women ; Unforgiven; War and Peace; What's Up Doc?; When Harry Met Sally; Witness; Woman on Top; Zulu
==================

Can you be of any help for me?
Will you name ten of your most favorite movies?
I will be eternally grateful.

/J

[003] Insignificance : Euphausia superba vs. Homo sapiens

We ARE the Best...
We means...WE...the best creature of God...Most successful
living being on this universe...The most knowledgeable...
Human Being...Homo Sapiens...'Knowing man'...

Stop! Enough! Give it a break!

You also think like that? Are you stoned or what!
Wanna know the name of most successful living being
on Earth? I mean the 'real' most successful?
Its called Euphausia superba.
What a cool name!

They are a kind of Krill...
Krill...hmmm...what is that...in Bangla its kind of
a 'chingri maach'...in English...they don't eat or know
that kinda 'chingri maach.'..but I can say its like a
small shrimp sorta thing...And Euphausia superba is not any
common krill...its Antarctic krill...

A quote from wiki...
"The most successful animal, in terms of biomass, is
the Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, with a biomass
of probably over 500 million tons, roughly twice the total
biomass of humans(double best than us!). The entire earth
contains about 75 billion tons of biomass. Humans comprise
about 250 million tons (0.33%)."

Another quote...
"Antarctic krill are shrimp-like invertebrates that live in
large schools, called swarms, sometimes reaching densities
of 10,000 - 30,000 individual animals per cubic meter.
They grow to a length of 6 cm, weigh up to 2 grams,
and can live for up to six years."

Oh no! I mean a Krill? The kind that I can squash under my shoe?
The kind I can swallow tens at a time with a cup of soup?
6 CM max in length? 2 grams of weight?
How crashing...my superiority is on the verge of destruction...
The krills are questioning it...
I will commit suicide now...
And so should you all...you self-important Home sapiens...





(I guess I should start rating my blogs...on the scale of 1 to 5...
where 1 is readable for everyone even with least humor and pun...
and 5 is only for the hardcore, super-sarcastic, anti-social
creatures...This one was somewhere between 3.5 to 4...)

/J

[002] Why 'The Pagan Kid'?

Hmmm...
I am not sure if someone wanna know the answer...
But just so you know...

I realized a long time back, back in my childhood, that,
our religion is not by our choice but by our birth.
(Any chance to get offended? Not liberated enough to digest this
sorta things? Then just skip this entry...and keep reading the next
entries...or if too offended...you are free to click on the red cross
on top-right corner of this window...)

OK...So you are still reading...Good...
So what was I saying? Yeah...so I realized that fact when
I was a kid. Now you must know that I was born in a family
with a 'peer' grandfather...well...not a practicing 'peer'...
But he was called 'peer' village-wide, for his religious
integrity and also for his wide-acceptance...
Both my parents' families are from the religious belt
of Bangladesh...the South.
I was taught Quran, its meaning with correct recitation...
I was taught all the modern theological aspects of my religion...
I was taught all the tiny details of the religion...
When I was talking about the superiority of it...there were
few who could stop me...And what not!
And its then, I got so much interested in Theology as a whole.
I started asking, so how come I am so lucky to be born in a Muslim family?
What will happen to that kid who was born in a Hindu/Christian family?
Poor kid...no chance to go to heaven...
But hang on....its not his fault...
And...wait...funnier thing is, his parents also told him his
religion is the best and taught him everything the way I was taught...
Just with a different religious label...
Oh no! Now? Which one is REALLY the best? It has to be mine!
(OK...so you know where I am going...keep reading...)

Then I started studying the history of religion...
Just to found out the very core of it...
Sounds funny...eh? History? of Religion?
Isn't religion embedded with us from the days of Adam/Eve/Adom/Hawa?
From the very beginning? Before everything?
Not really!

It was crafted. I must say well-crafted.
All the modern day religion with Monotheistic beliefs,
starting from Zoroastrianism, are actually very well-crafted
with the purpose of gaining more power over the people of the
respective times...
Its all about politics, economy and power.
Definitely, every religion has to be 'so-called' THE best.
For power, for the superiority there were war.
For hundreds of years. In fact, civilization was evolved
through these wars.
I can keep talking about it day after day.
But lets stop the definitions here.

Question rises now, so am I an Atheist?
Hell no!
I am a Believer.
I believe in the power of beliefs, the power of
trust, the power of surrender and the power of
after-life certainty.

So why raising so much question about religion?
Cause...cause...
I was not the one who choose it for myself...
Now who said, if you do not choose something
by yourself that has to be bad? Well...Right.
Its not bad...but it raises questions...lot of them...

So, ami jodi etoi matbor(আমি যদি এতই মাতবর), which one should
I choose for myself? Hmmm...pretty tough question...
How many are there? Thousands? More?
Errr...its not so easy to choose like that SSC-MCQs...
Then?

But, why the hell there are so many religions if yours is the best?
Smells fishy...to me it means...another successful practice
of 'divide and rule'...another way to gain more power...
That guy is telling THAT is our God? And thus he becomes
the savior? Never! I need the power...So, I am saying THIS
is our God...and see that guy? He is our new savior...
so the power is with us now...and the other group? Kill them...
Power...more power...division of power...distribution of power...
Tool? Religion!
Hmmm...too complicated...don't know how to make it simpler in a blog...

So, what was there before all these division?
Yeah...my question exactly!
Ancient people, those whom we say uncivilized, those
who used to eat meet without cooking it...and used to
have sex just like you brush your teeth...the people
who had no fire to use...well...fire was not even
discovered back then...let alone internet...
those ancient people believed in Mother Nature.
Obviously! She is the one who controls everything.
Who gives them food. Who saves them from all those
dangers. So why not nod for her? I mean you don't need
to be a rocket scientist to sort that out...
They realized...
There IS 'something'.
The 'something' will love you if you do 'good'.
The 'something' will hate you if you do 'bad'.
What is good? What is bad?
Ask your conscience? But, if you don't have any?
Thats not possible. You are born with it...like your heart and blood.
And even thats also given by Mother Nature.

These people were 'Pagans'.
Heathen, satanic so many more names.
But root? All same.
"Union is the prayer. Love is the religion."
They are Pagan.

Simple. Peaceful. No division. No fight for power.

So I decided, I will consider myself as a Pagan...
Well...there are few other reasons I wanna consider myself as a Pagan.
One is I am lazy...so I dun wanna follow all those tiring rituals.
Second, the modern-day religion does not make me liberated.
Not at all. Its full of 'Don't's.
Third, there are few striking realizations I had, while
studying religious history of different Monotheistic beliefs.
They are all so similar...exactly...word by word...event by event...
Just with a different timeline…
But dun wanna share it here.
Well...there are many more reasons...
not suitable to share for a blog of this kind...

So I am a declared Pagan Kid.
Now you know why the address of this blog is like this.

Just a small note here...I am not a practicing Pagan either...
I am one of those modern day semi-neo-pagans...

/J

(ufff...amar abaro tired lagtese blog likhte likhte...
mone hoy ei blog tao aar continue hobe na)

[001] Another One...

This is another try...
Yeah...'this' means this blog...
I have been trying to go with the flow for a long time...
The global flow of Blog spree of the virtual vanilla world...

Its kinda sad...cause I just realized I started using Internet in 1996.
Quite early if you consider which part of world I was living in back then...
Now after about ten years, I must have a number of blog all over Internet.
How many I have? None. Well, none functional...sad!

I started...And not for once. I started quite a few times.
Twenty-something perhaps...with loadza enthusiasm every time...
like the way I am starting this one...
And then the next day or after 2 days...may be after maximum a week...
I lost all interest...

Why? Yeah...thats what I was thinking...why?
Now I found out several theory for that...

::Theorem 1::
I am afraid of expressing myself...am I?
well...I am not sure...I love smart and intelligent people...
So, rather than expressing myself LOUD, I prefer
people will just read me...better, easier and far more
convenient than expressing myself...
And Blog does not offer that...I mean its all virtual...how can
someone read me? Unless I shout out loud like a shameless donkey?
So now, I am starting this blog...and declaring myself as one...

::Theorem 2::
This one is far more practical...I can not keep my interest in something
so mundane for a long time...

::Theorem 3::
Another more practical reason...
I always tried making a blog while I was in Dhaka...
The place with one of the slowest internet connections of the world.
Now starting from blogger all the blog service need at least couple of
minutes to download...then you need to edit it...and then you need
to make it presentable...now all those were not possible for my
patience to endure back in Dhaka...So I gave up after a while...
And trust me it doesn't matter how cool this new Ajax language looks...
It IS slow...and very loaded...

::Theorem 4::
A basic reason for writing blog is to make your thoughts
public...now when I am doing that...I wanna make it very presentable...
'Manush ki bhabbe(মানুষ কি ভাব্বে)?[What will others think about it?]'
So when I am asking that question...I started feeling negative
about my blog...cause I never had enough energy to make my
blog presentable and spelling-mistake-less...
BTW, I hate spelling mistakes...
You MUST notify me if you find one, in my entries...

Well...I can keep going on with the theories...
But just now I realized they are sounding like excuses...
Why should I give excuse? I mean why here?

I wanna start a new blog...thats it...
Never managed continuing the previous ones...so what?
Wanna do it again...My wish...

/J