Musings From New York

Translating PR-Speak

First - the credits: I found this via Loosewire, via Joi Ito, via Dvorak.

It's a funny translation of selected portions of Adobe's FAQ about their acquisition of Macromedia.

My favorite sections:

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"How many employees does Macromedia have?

Macromedia has approximately 1,450 employees worldwide.

Please note use of present tense.

 

"How many employees does Adobe have?

Adobe has approximately 4,000 employees worldwide.

 

Ditto regarding use of present tense. Please also note that PDF is an excellent format for sending out résumés."
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And the best one ...

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"Do you anticipate a reduction in force as a result of this transaction?

When two successful growing companies join together, the result is a   combined organization that creates new and exciting opportunities.   The combination will lead to powerful new areas of innovation, new   products and solutions, and an acceleration of our respective growth   agendas. At the same time, there will be some duplication of employee   functions between the two companies, and upon the close of the   transaction, we anticipate some level of reduction in force. While we   anticipate the integration team will identify opportunities for cost   savings, the primary motivation for this acquisition is to continue   to expand and grow our businesses into new markets. 

Yes."

Common Errors In English

Continuing on with my zealous crusade against sloppy English, here's a website (courtesy Gowri, again!) that lists common errors in usage of the English language. The site doesn't contain some of the errors I've encountered, or my pet peeves, such as:

- "Log on to www....": You don't log onto a website! You log onto your ISP, and navigate to the website. Or browse to the website, perhaps (?). But you don't log onto it!

- Foreword vs. Forward: This was in an bid template that was forwarded to me. This was written by Brits, mind you.

You Realize ... This Means War!

War! War, I tell ya! War against leet speak!

I am fed up with people sending me IMs and e-mails containing such phrases as "wat u mean?", or "y r u at home?"!

War, I tell ya!

And, no, I don't have high standards (lit. "stds"). I object to sloppiness that makes one shorten a 3 letter word such as "you" to 1 letter ("u"). It's just 2 characters more, people! Does your ISP charge you per character sent by e-mail?

Update: Apparently, acronyms are not apostrophied to denote pluralisms. Gowri sent me this link to prove it.

Rob's Birthday

Had a bit of an office party yesterday, for Rob's 50th birthday party. We went to a bar immediately after work ... Somewhere on 47th, between Lexington & 3rd (I forget the name). Had a drink there, before moving down to a restaurant on 20th & Park - The Sushi Sambo (something like that). We popped open the champagne, and had a few bottle of sake too. The place was some sort of weird Sushi/Mexican fusion or something.

From R-L: Mike Long, Gavin Allen, Phil Brooks, Lynne Chippendale, Rob Chippendale, An Extremely Handsome Chap, Lisa (dunno the last name), and Blaine Pryce

Anyway, we let the waiter serving us custom-create a menu consisting of .. oh, a gajillion courses. I've learnt one thing - you know you're in an upper-class restaurant when the plate is roughly 10 to 15 times the size of the serving portion! That's why I treat in places like Chinese Mirch, where the whole plate is chock-full of steaming goodness - they measure satisfaction by the pound there! =p

After dinner we went to a bar just up the road ... I left kinda early. I wasn't feeling that good, and got rained on a bit as well. So now, I'm at home, trying to nuke a fever with multiple Tylenols!

Update: Just kidding about it being the 50th birthday! It was his 43rd or so.

Another Photo ...

I got this photo from my parents, of my Mom at some temple (I forget where).

Hobnobbing

Some of you may know that my parents visited Pakistan earlier this year. My father attended the inauguration of the offices of a software company that he'd helped out last year. The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz, also attended, and handed out some awards to distinguished Pakistanis.

One of them happened to be a very close friend of the family, who'd asked my father to represent him. Long story short, my father met the Prime Minister of Pakistan!

You know, my mother was pleasantly surprised by the reception she had from both her hosts, as well ordinary folks (shopkeepers, etc.). She said that she'd expected a lot of hostility, but was greeted with kindness & open-hearted generosity. Free gifts from shopkeepers when they found out she was visiting from India & such.

Gowri & I were debating whether a Pakistani visiting India would have the same experience. My cynical bent of mind say "No Way!" But who knows, there maybe hope for us all, after all!

Kung Fu Hustle 8/10

Roger Ebert described this movie as "Jackie Chan & Buster Keaton meets Tarantino & Bugs Bunny". I heartily agree - but I confess I was quite puzzled by this description before I watched this movie.

The movie is the second Stephen Chow movie I've watched, following the superb Shaolin Soccer 3 years ago. He uses a lot of the cast from that movie - could this be the equivalent of the Ben Stiller-Will Ferrell-Owen Wilson-etc. nexus? Stephen Chow himself is the hero ... though I use that term very loosely. There is no strong/solitary hero character in this movie - the action and focus is very much on groups of people ... very communist ;-)

The movie itself is a mix of many different styles - which is why Ebert described the movie the way he did. There's Jackie Chan's action/comedy mix, Buster Keaton's slapstick, Tarantino's stylized action, and even a surreal Warner Brothers'-style chase sequence (think Roadrunner - beep beep!) My favorite sequence is the one where the two musician/assassins take on the kungfu masters. It's very reminiscent of movies like Hero or House of Flying Daggers. The movie does suffer from a lack of focus though. Although Stephen Chow is the "hero" of the movie, he doesn't get as much screen time as he should, resulting in a fudged character development from street rat to kungfu master. Also, as in Shaolin Soccer, the whole heroine/romance angle is pretty underdeveloped. Which is a pity, cos the romantic interest (Huang Sheng Yi) is pretty cute!

Sadly, this movie isn't for everyone. Most people I know would just be plain irritated by the nonsensical goings-on! People who liked Shaolin Soccer would definitely like this movie!

Oh, a bit of trivia: according to NYTimes, the choreography was done by Yuen Wo Ping (who did Crouching Tiger, The Matrix & Kill BIll)

Sideways 7/10

An interesing movie, is Sideways. But a rather slow movie, too. I guess I was expecting more of a Woody Allen-esque comedy ... or maybe a Billy Crystal-esque movie. Basically something with more guffaws than chuckles.

Having said that, Sideways is a very effective drama, with comedic touches. Some of the script was quite interesting - of how the life of a wine mirrors a person's life; of how a wine is the summation of a collaborative and social effort, for example.

Another interesting aspect was the theme of escapism - of not being able to face and deal with one's current situation. Miles can't face the fact that his life has stagnated; Jack cannot face the prospect of settling down; Maya can't face her divorce; Stephanie can't face her life of parenting. And they simulatenously use wine as therapy - the wine brings them together; the pursuit of arcane knowledge of horticulture, of wine, or just the simple pleasure of drinking good wine heals them.

It's definitely worth the watch, but now that the DVD is out, it might not be worth the 10 buck ticket.

Still On The Subject of WoW

This is the funniest comic strip I've seen to date.

Some Photos from WoW

Yesterday, one of my guildmates, a rogue named Crono, got himself a tuxedo stitched. He was so kicked that we took a bunch of photos outside Ironforge. Frostrane (a guild Paladin) and Caterin (another rogue) were in Ironfroge too, and posed as well.

Frost, Crono & Cat Outside Ironforge

 

Cheering For Archon!

 

Mortal Kombat ... Fight!