Rohit Mordani’s Blog

Once in a while there comes along a song that will move you. You can feel the hair on the back of your neck and on your arms stand up when you listen to such songs ! If you don’t feel that with some songs then you need to ask yourself - “What moves me?”. I love musicians/artists that actually perform for a cause - No wonder why Bono is one of my favourite artists !

On American Idol this week there was a special episode called “Idol Gives Back” and all the contestants sang songs that inspire ! This show was good and I appreciate all the work they are doing. If you want to help check out this website called ONE.

Here are some songs that move me:

• If Everyone Cared : Nickelback
• One : U2
• Imagine : John Lennon
• Change the World : Eric Clapton
• Winds of Change : Scorpians
• We are the World : USA for Africa
• That’s what Friends are for : Dionne Warwick
• Heal the World : Michael Jackson
• You Raise me up : Josh Groban
• Lean on me : Don McClean/ Bill Withers

These artists have a talent and they use that towards a higher and better cause - not just to earn money for themselves ! I hope there are more artists that do this. We all have talents and we should all use it towards that higher cause !
My last word : Each of us can make a difference. You can contribute in countless number of ways. The least you can do is save up your change and give that to charity. You can give away your old clothes, computer or even your old car. There are tons of charity organisations that do a lot - Help them out in your own way. We are blessed to be in a better position - lets help out those who aren’t as blessed as we are !

Some of the Non-Profit/ Non-Government Organisations (NGO) you might want to look into:

• International Association of Human Values (IAHV)
• 5H project

There are tons more - I don’t care which one you choose - Just choose one and help them out !

Over the years I have come across some really catchy lines that Companies use to sell/market their products and I was amazed how few words can be so precise in describing the product and/or service that are being sold ! I bet there are companies hired by the sellers to come up with these innovative lines - and I bet they are paid heavily to come up with these concise lines !

From movies to products to services - there are taglines for everything - I guess that stems from our nature of getting bored of things really quickly and the fact that the first impression is always the last impression. If there is anything that requires a second thought - then we think lesser of it ! Some taglines are also random and probably do not make any sense, but they still capture our attention ! Our attention span keeps getting shorter and shorter and so do the taglines !

I was once playing a game with a friend of mine where each one said the tag line of a product/service and the other had to say what product/service it was for ! I also played this game with my wife on our way back from a trip to Lake Tahoe - she was amazed at how many of them she remembered. See if you can identify these tag lines with their products…

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So the new Infiniti G37 Coupe is out, and it looks like a new trend is being set and the leaders are the BMW and Infiniti - Don’t be mistaken - The trend is not a good one. They are throwing out the Good looking models and introducing worse looking models. The cars themselves may perform really well but on the outside, they look ugly - to me at least !

I loved the ancestor - the Infiniti G35 ! The new G37 looks more Toyota-ish or Hyundai-ish and I am not a big fan of Toyota nor am I a fan of Hyundai. My first impression of the new G37 is not a very good one. I really like the older model much better than the new one. I think Nissan/Infiniti is using the older G35 model as the new Coupe for Nissan and introducing this new model of the G37 replacing the old one. I had heard rumours of this, but now it looks like it is for real - That sucks ! I feel bad for all you faithful Infiniti owners/to-be-owners out there. If you are looking to buy a G35 I would really get my hands on one of the previous models before the dealers run out of those !

Check out the 2007 Infiniti G37 at AutoBlog:

This is a new section that I thought of writing up while doing my Alaska trip bookings. Usually, to plan a trip one needs to research a lot into the place, its activities , its good hotels etc. I hope that this post will provide enough information to plan your simple trip ! Of course all this comes from my trip to Maui and the activities I did / did not do.

When to Go
I have been twice to Maui and both my trips have been during the Winter season (hardly the winter there !). December and January are both really good times to be in Maui - the weather is perfect - around 75F. Be prepared for a few really hot days - around 80F but those days are every day ! Maui also gets some rain around December and January - these rains are unpredictable ! I did miss my helicopter ride (scheduled for the last day of my trip) but that is the only day we had some showers !

Getting There
I flew Hawaiian Airlines on one trip whereas the other trip I flew ATA. Both, are mediocre but all I cared for was getting there and I found the best deals on these airlines. The flight timings were also good and I had a direct flight from San Francisco to Hawaii. The airport code for Maui is OGG, unless you want to land in another part of the Island (which I do not recommend).

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The other day I was at my brother’s place and he has HD programming. I switched over to Discovery channel to see how good it looked and I saw a commercial for a new series called “Planet Earth”. It looked pretty good but I dismissed it from my mind. A few days later - while looking through the program guide (on my DVR) I saw an entry for “Planet Earth”. I just kept the timer ’cause there wasn’t much to watch anyways !

Last night, I switched on the TV and saw that 2 episodes of Planet Earth were recorded. I started watching it and within 5 minutes I was in awe ! This series is amazing - it may be a documentary but it is so good that I didn’t even forward 2 seconds of it ! The episode that I was watching was called “Fresh Water” and it explored all life that revolved around fresh water - be it from lakes or from mountain streams or the big rivers ! It absolutely blew my mind - and that too on the Simple Definition of it !! The DVDs and the HD versions (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD) come out next week - this makes me want to buy a High Definition player (PS3 ? HD-DVD player? Combo drive?). I would love to have this set of DVDs.

Apparently, the series was 5 years in the making. It is a co-production between BBC and Discovery Channel. There are 11 episodes in all :

1. From Pole to Pole
2. Mountains
3. Freshwater
4. Caves
5. Deserts
6. Ice Worlds
7. Great Plains
8. Jungles
9. Shallow Seas
10. Seasonal Forests
11. Ocean Deep

Looks like I missed the first 2 episodes ! Here are some of the things that come to my mind while watching the series…

• How do they keep the camera so steady !
• What a place !
• How did they get a camera there !
• Wow !! Wow !! Wow !!
• Amazing !!
• How do they string the story from one place to another with the same subject / story line !
• What a fly by - Would love to see that in IMAX !
• Nice music !
• Love those underwater and slow-motion shots !
• Those facts are amazing !

Here are some of the amazing shots / memories (wish I could post a video here instead of this list ) of the episode that I saw last night - titled “Fresh Water”

• Otters under water
• Giant salamanders hunting fish at night
• Monkey diving into the Ganges/Brahmaputra from Mangrove trees in the Sunderbans and swimming / grabbing food / playing (underwater swimming for fun)
• Up-close shot of a Bear fishing in a mountain stream
• Group of Otters harassing a crocodile (20 times their size)
• Shot of a crocodile taking down a buffalo (shown at a speed that is slowed down 40 times the normal rate)
• Billions of lake flies mating over a lake -looks like smoke over the lake !
• Piranha Feeding Frenzy
• Bear diving to hunt fish

Some links to more info…I know I am getting these DVDs (or HD versions) some time !

• Planet Earth @ Discovery.com
• Planet Earth DVDs
• Planet Earth - Wikipedia

A while ago - about 20 weeks before the SuperBowl (2007) I started watching America’s Game on NFL Network - Now, I am a BIG fan of the NFL and NFL Network is by far one of my favourite channels and this series of programs made by NFL Films is amazing ! It is a 40 part documentary profiling the Super Bowl champions from Super Bowl I through Super Bowl XL !

I think the way it is made is excellent. The story mode is well set, the narration is exceptional - the people chosen have very good diction as well as a good voice ! The clips, sound bites and the plain background behind the people telling the story sets the perfect mood for some classy story telling ! Thinking back about the program - the best part of the program is the music ! I LOVE the introduction tune - it is amazing ! I also love the background music !

Steve Sabol has done an excellent job in making this. The top 20 were the first to be aired. These 20 best NFL Super Bowl teams were selected by a group of people (called the Blue Ribbon Panel) who are either Sports broadcasters, Coaches in the NFL, Players in the NFL or anyone related to the Game ! I may not agree with the rankings, however I see the documentry from a different perspective - through the eyes, ears and minds of the players and the coaches who made it through and achieve the ultimate goal in their careers - win the Super Bowl !

If you do get a chance then do watch the series - its worth it ! Check out the official website of America’s Game to learn more…

I am now watching the rest of the games that didn’t make it to the top 20…

I was looking through the web and couldn’t find a plugin that would pull my GamerCard information and add it to the Sidebar widget so I got creative. Here is how I did it :

1. Go to Presentation > Sidebar widgets (This assumes you have the Sidebar plugin installed)
2. Drag the ‘Text 1′ widget from the pool in the bottom and add it to Sidebar 1. If you don’t have a Text widget or are already using one then in the ‘Text Widgets’ section add increase the number by 1
3. Click on the ‘Text 1′ (or Text # - where # is some number corresponding to the text widget number) and add the following :

<a href=”http://profile.mygamercard.net/[yourgamertag]“>
<img src=”http://card.mygamercard.net/gel/[yourgamertag].png” border=”0″>
</a>

Make sure you replace [yourgamertag] with your actual gamer tag. Here is what my code looks like this :

<a href=”http://profile.mygamercard.net/mordani”>
<img src=”http://card.mygamercard.net/gel/mordani.png” border=”0″>
</a>

You can also generate the above code from http://www.mygamercard.net/

Click on the thumbnail below to see what the text widget looks like (during setup)

And the final result is… (Yes - your gamer card)

Went and saw 300 today and I must say it is a good movie ! It is bloody, gory, R-rated and violent as hell ! It is definitely not for the faint hearted ! Why did I like it? Well - for the simple fact that it tells the story well and keeps you entertained throughout. It did however had a lot of scenes that made me uncomfortable even though I was only with my wife !

I loved the fighting sequences and the way it was shown - the camera angles, the colours, the action sequences and the blood splatter everywhere ! it was very well done - Kudos to Zack Snyder for his direction !

I think 300 takes a page out of Lord of the Rings (crazy battle scenes and loads of armies), God of War (The violent behaviour, the looks and the defiance of the Spartans) and a little from The Matrix (the colour scheme and sticking to tones of the same hue and the action sequences).

300 - in all is a good movie - However do not take your kids or parents with you to the movie ! Check out the video blog at their myspace site. This should give you a good idea of what I am talking about…

Update : Check out these hilarious gifs making fun of 300 !!

Here is a new section that I am starting of and it is based on a couple of things that I know of. So, here is one thing that I know that no one ever believes and they still argue with me on this fact - however it is true ! I always get the “No way” or “That is not possible” or “That is rubbish” reaction when I tell people about it - until they try it out with their own feet and see the truth ! Try it out for yourself if you wish !

FACT : The size of your feet is equal to the size of your inner forearm (from the beginning of your wrist to the inner of your elbow).

And just to prove it to you without having you to do it yourself (which anyways you will - you sucker !!) I will put up a photograph of my foot and my inner forearm showing the equal size. Take that Da Vinci - I hope you knew that while drawing the Vitruvian Man

Doesn’t this make you feel - “God is amazing and his creations are very well thought through” !!!???

My brother had a 1997 BMW M3 (manual) and that was the first car that I drove in the US. Driving that car was awesome - the feeling of power ! That was the E36 model - At 4 door 240 bhp that car would rip through ! Sad to say though that he had to sell that car to get an SUV when Rhea (his daughter) was born. I tried hard to convince him to not sell that car - but that was not practical. Before he sold the car - I did get some good shots of the car. I took a panorama (hahahaha - yes yet another panorama) of the inside of the car - pretty smooth ha? Here is the shot that I am talking about :

I also love the E46 model as well - In fact, overall I think the E46 BMW M3 looks and performs much better than most of the cars that I have ever sat in. I sat in one of the BMW M3 (E46 model) and that ride was sweet ! The acceleration was absolutely thrilling !

Here is a review of the BMW M3 from Jeremy Clarkson who hosts the show ‘Top Gear’ on BBC. I like one of the quotes he make in this video about the engine - “But under here - you will find the heart of medieval manx dog !”. The car featured in this video though is a special edition !

And now….

The new BMW M3 - which I really do not like that much. It looks like the new 3-series - What a let down ! I expected sooo much more from BMW and the M3 ! I think a lot of BMW M3 fans will be disappointed with the new BMW M3 - though the real enthusiasts will definitely buy it ! The car has the power - 420 bhp, but it surely doesn’t have that look that the E36 or the E46 has !

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