Like to learn Design? Now you can, online.

Milad wanted me to give Refresh present to Lee. So I said to Lee, 'It was great'

November Refresh Colombo had Lee Bazelgette doing his presentation on 'Social Phygital world' - in other words - 'design' - how design affects us and makes us alive.

His presentation is here (with links to sources).

The presentation invoked a desire in me and Muditha to learn design. I mean great designs.

Few months back we registered online at coursera.org to a course called 'Small Design: Creation of artifacts in society' done by amazing Guru Karl Ulrich.

We are lagging behind, as we did not stick to our timelines. Nevertheless we are still able to access the content (a great pdf, online video tutorials by the guru himself, forums etc.). What matters is not certificates, but learning something that you are really passionate, which is not related to your daily job.

Not only design, there are many other courses available. If you wanna learn, seriously, here's the chance. Don't tell excuses like cost of education, no time for classes etc. Go ahead. Get educated from the best.

I Will also do a more detailed post on Coursera.org, later. 

Pic Credit : Refresh Colombo

4 reasons why you should NOT buy a basic kindle

The one I use. Now it's called 'Kindle Keyboard 3G'

1. NO DISTRACTIONS

I mean no touch screen. Only physical key board (who can stand that?). Only one thing you can do at one time - is read a book. (Sigh)

In a world where we need constant distraction and frequent updates - this device lets you down in a bad way. And you know what? screen is just plain grey (No color screen !). Good thing is, the screen looks great in outdoors. No glare. Just like reading a paperback. And how to brag infront of a crowd - a grey screen loaded with good books in it?

2. IT COSTS $ 69 

Seriously? When iPAD just cost you $399 or more, and great android devices are just around $200, who in sane mind would want to buy this rudimentary piece? $ 69 is way too high price tag.

3. YOU CAN CARRY 1000 BOOKS WITH YOU.

This is the craziest part. 1000 books? And it can hold your PDF's too. I mean your entire life of PDF's. Can you find people nowadays who are reading at all? Mind you, reading books eats in to your precious time on TV, youtube, gaming, social media etc. And reading books is a bad habit  when your life is designed to follow the pack.

4. YOU CAN DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE BEFORE BUYING A BOOK.

So finally, here's the catch. You can download first chapter of books for FREE ! 

And don't watch this video.

If you are still tempted after reading these 4 reasons and the video, I will call that 'it's your fate'. Go ahead and try your luck. If you do, love to hear from you.

Will 'Surface' surface from dark?

I blogged enthusiastically on 'Surface' Keynote, a much anticipated event, in June. (Microsoft Surface, Finally)

Then Microsoft finally finally launched the product in October. 'Sales are moderate', Steve Balmer admits. 

A good product, sadly, missing on its' potential, due to bad timing. Everyone falls in love with it. Then there's no way to purchase it. (Online purchase here, but don't know how good it is)This was evident when 'Surface' was demoed at November Refresh Colombo. Allmost every participant liked it. On twitter too, the sentiment was apparent. 

Hope this will be available in Sri Lanka soon.

Pic Credit: Refresh Colombo

Yash Chopra's final project

Yash Chopra is the maestro of emotions. He focuses on an ordinary life's emotions - Zooms in - as if the whole world stops breathing to find out what's next. His work in bollywood is a spectrum of great cinematography.

Jab Tak He Jaan (JTHJ) was his last. A good enough reason to watch it in a cinema theatre. Yash delivers as usual. He will be missed by millions. What I find unbelievable is his precise ability to blend latest technology in cinema to evoke emotions of love, which transcends generations. He was able to talk to any age - be cool, trendy, and preserve a poetry quality of creativity. The camera work of opening titles where Shah Rukh rides a motorcycle through terrains of Ladakh, is pure genius. There were many such master strokes.

A.R.Rahman delivers once again a great sound track. Before I went to movie I've listened to full sound track at-least 12 times. It's a mesmerizing album. 'Challa' is a treat. The songs in the movie, taken individually, are blocks of creative mastery, in its' own right. Many critics rated music as average, but I disagree.

But the story penned by his son Aditya Chopra lets the film down. When one sees a story from Aditya the expectations are high. Imagine a film Yash directing, Shah Rukh Khan in lead role, Rahman doing music, Gulzaar penning lyrics - and then Aditya scripting the story. It's like a divine ensemble of creative genius. On that level of euphoria the story fails miserably. Disjointed plots meshes up for too long (3 hours !) messing with overall directorial and musical energy.

Despite holes in the story, the film seals yet another Yash authenticity in our hearts. I have seen it in micro level at the cinema hall which was packed with joyful faces - and on macro level, the film raked more than its budget ( 500 million Indian Rs) in ticket sales, with in 4 days of its' release. Unbelievable feat.

Final word: Watch.

Pic Credit: The Hindu

Eating rice. Only rice.

This happened on a busy week day. I came home to grab lunch and then do a report. I was tired from morning meetings, and went to kitchen to find, no curries left. Only then I remembered, I have devoured both breakfast and lunch portions in the morning, because they were great. (Greedy!)

I sat, with a plate full of rice, only rice.

I've never eaten rice alone, and felt bad. No time to prepare anything, as I had to complete a report.
I ate one lump. Then another. Felt like eating pulp.

Then I slowed down, and then began to enjoy (Enjoy !) the real taste of rice. Never in my life, I found taste of rice as on that day. Funny, I've been eating rice all my life, but never known its real taste.

This is like most things in life. We see things in a web, with lot of other things, hence forget to experience each individual's taste.

Hope you'll also try rice, only rice, once.

Pic credit: Yuji Kotani

Speech of Dr.Richard Teo

If any one of us, as humans, want to live a fuller life, I find this speech by Dr.Richard Teo as a treasure.
He had been a very successful doctor, until he was diagnosed with cancer.

The way you look at your life will be forever changed.

Click here for the text of full speech, as found on Facebook.

And click here for youtube video of the lecture.

Back to writing

I thought I might not be on this space again. Few months back Blogger platform gave some unexplainable troubles, and with no support from Google side, I gave up this space.

Then I was ill, and took some time off. In that silence, I went back in life through posts of this blog, and amazingly found energy and creativity, which was like my thinking talking to me. And oh, the site is now working fine, with no hitch.

So why not? I thought.
During sickness I read, wrote, thought and laughed a lot.

The writing I do now, may project a different flavor. So do please bear with me :)

New thought, another step forward