I flew JetBlue on my flight back from Boston (I will put up an On the Road post later). This was my first time flying with them, and after that sensational flight attendant from badassville I was curious about what to expect. Let me say JetBlue is great. I not only landed at LAX 25 minutes early, but also got to enjoy free satellite TV on-board.
Saw a few episodes of the Office (which, to my surprise, actually looked better than Season 4, when I abandoned the then-awkward show), the Nanny and a few minutes of Letterman, Leno, and (alas) Conan.
I never understood all the unjustified hoop-la surrounding the golden child Conan. In the whole Leno-Conan-NBC fiasco, everybody coddled him as if he were the lost son of Zeus. Give me a break. The man is staggeringly unfunny. And yet - against my better judgment - I was tempted to check out his new show on TBS.
BIG FREAKING MISTAKE. Horrible, horrible skits. I did not chuckle even once. One word: insufferable. Actually, two words: still insufferable.
Hey Conan, I am gonna find a lawyer to file an Eighth Amendment lawsuit. Cruel, cruel punishment, man.
Where we sacrifice our grades and well-being for your entertainment.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The Economist is so damn funny
If you don't know much about the Economist magazine, it is quite possibly the best source of detailed analysis of major events around the globe. Each issue is densely packed with in-depth articles on a wide-variety of topics.
Basically, it is like Time magazine on horse testosterone.
But of course, it is published from Britain so it has a distinctively British flavour to it. And I am not even talking about the perfunctory differences in spelling and diction. I am talking about some full-blown peculiarities:
Each letter to the editor hilariously begins with "SIR-". Now I wonder, do readers write like this, or are the editors diligently adding the greeting? Hmm, it would be funny if someone said "SIR - I hated your article on the instability of Nigeria."
What bowled me over, though, was their absolutely snarky and dry captions. Take a look at this one:
This is taken from their most recent issue (October 30), and the article discusses a fairly boring takeover bid of a construction company in Germany. Look at the caption though!! Get it? Cement...construction...hahahaha.
Here is another one: (from an article about France's pension reform)
HAHAHAHAHA. Genius.
Just incredible that this stodgy, staid magazine serious enough to append SIRs to the letters to the editor sneaks in little nuggets of humor (or should I say humour). Seriously, who comes up with these things? Do they hire a bloke whose sole job is to churn out sarcastic one-liners to match the article? That would be a pretty cool job IMO.
Those monocle-wearing, tea-sipping, cricket-playing Brits are masters of subtlety, aren't they?
Basically, it is like Time magazine on horse testosterone.
But of course, it is published from Britain so it has a distinctively British flavour to it. And I am not even talking about the perfunctory differences in spelling and diction. I am talking about some full-blown peculiarities:
Each letter to the editor hilariously begins with "SIR-". Now I wonder, do readers write like this, or are the editors diligently adding the greeting? Hmm, it would be funny if someone said "SIR - I hated your article on the instability of Nigeria."
What bowled me over, though, was their absolutely snarky and dry captions. Take a look at this one:
 | ||
| No way to cement a relationship |
This is taken from their most recent issue (October 30), and the article discusses a fairly boring takeover bid of a construction company in Germany. Look at the caption though!! Get it? Cement...construction...hahahaha.
Here is another one: (from an article about France's pension reform)
 | |||
| Bet he wasn't worried about his pension |
Just incredible that this stodgy, staid magazine serious enough to append SIRs to the letters to the editor sneaks in little nuggets of humor (or should I say humour). Seriously, who comes up with these things? Do they hire a bloke whose sole job is to churn out sarcastic one-liners to match the article? That would be a pretty cool job IMO.
Those monocle-wearing, tea-sipping, cricket-playing Brits are masters of subtlety, aren't they?
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Celeb look alike?
Is it just me or does Jon Hamm look a lot like our newly minted Speaker of the House John "Orange" Boehner?
[Image courtesy: alan.org and austinpost.org]
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Facebook friendship pages do more good than harm
Unless you have been living in a cave or have been hibernating, you know by know that uber-network Facebook introduced a new feature called friendship page. Since it is possible that you may have been living in a cave, I will grudgingly describe what this feature is.
It allows users to track their friendship back in time by collecting all wall posts, comments, pictures they shared with their friends in one convenient spot. For example, say I want to explore how Citizen Lafayette and I got started. I would go to his profile page, and click on "Citizen and you". This will take me to a page with a picture of both of us (facebook chooses this picture) that supposedly symbolizes our friendship. On this page, I can see all our wall-to-wall, pictures we are tagged in together, events we have attended together, and status comments we have made on each others' profiles.
Pretty nifty, right? I think so. I like it especially because I met a lot of my close friends in my freshman year. So it is very exciting (and a bit cringe-inducing, to be honest) to go back in time and see some of the very initial posts we made to get to know each other better.
Of course, this can also make facebook stalking a lot lot easier (and perhaps also give it official approval) because now you can track the friendships of other people. Curious how Sally ended up with a guy like Bill? Click away and you will know how klutzy Bill wooed Sally!
But I am a pretty utilitarian guy, and facebook friendship clearly adds more good to the society than bad. And for that, I am proud to affix the OFFICIAL UG SEAL OF APPROVAL on facebook friendship pages. From now on, we will sporadically approve products/concepts we clearly like.
It allows users to track their friendship back in time by collecting all wall posts, comments, pictures they shared with their friends in one convenient spot. For example, say I want to explore how Citizen Lafayette and I got started. I would go to his profile page, and click on "Citizen and you". This will take me to a page with a picture of both of us (facebook chooses this picture) that supposedly symbolizes our friendship. On this page, I can see all our wall-to-wall, pictures we are tagged in together, events we have attended together, and status comments we have made on each others' profiles.
Pretty nifty, right? I think so. I like it especially because I met a lot of my close friends in my freshman year. So it is very exciting (and a bit cringe-inducing, to be honest) to go back in time and see some of the very initial posts we made to get to know each other better.
Of course, this can also make facebook stalking a lot lot easier (and perhaps also give it official approval) because now you can track the friendships of other people. Curious how Sally ended up with a guy like Bill? Click away and you will know how klutzy Bill wooed Sally!
But I am a pretty utilitarian guy, and facebook friendship clearly adds more good to the society than bad. And for that, I am proud to affix the OFFICIAL UG SEAL OF APPROVAL on facebook friendship pages. From now on, we will sporadically approve products/concepts we clearly like.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Up in the air, down on the ground - a veteran sure and proud
A while ago, I saw the 2009 film Up in the Air, starring suavemeister George Clooney. It was your typical Clooney film, meaning it was slightly quirky, used a lot of close shots of his improbably perfect stubble, and exploited his prodigious talents in making mundane dialogue somehow seem interesting.
The movie has an interesting plot. Basically, Clooney plays this high-flying executive whose only job is to "consolidate" badly performing firms. If you haven't figures it out yet, it's just a nicer way of saying his job is to fire people. See, the company he works for specializes in this sort of thing (a repo agency for firms, if you will) so anytime a firm is not doing so hot, it will hire Clooney and Co. to come clean up. Clooney is your seasoned veteran: he has a gazillion frequent flyer miles (towards the end of the movie, he gets a special gold-plated card by American Airlines for becoming one of the very few people to accumulate ten million miles), and an equal number of club cards, credit cards, hotel discount cards and so on. Long story short, he has a change of heart, one predictably disastrous love affair, and decides to change his life for good.
The reason I brought up this movie is that lately I have been feeling like a veteran too. I may not have the same number of frequent flier miles that Clooney does, but I have certainly done more than a fair share of flying. Medical school interview sure have familiarized me with a LOT of airports that I would otherwise never have gone to. Since all of my interviews usually end around 4 pm in the afternoon, I end up taking the late evening flight back to LAX. That means I get to my apartment by 11 (on a good day) or midnight (on a mas o menos day).
And let me tell you something: no matter how much I hate the ridiculously long lines, no matter how irritated I get at the byzantine security procedures (I am severely glaring at you American for moronically counting my garment bag as a "third carry-on" bag), I definitely breath a nice, long sigh of joy and relief when I get down the escalator and see the giant pic of our esteemed mayor giving a wholesome grin. Damn it feels good to be back each and every time.
To round this off, here are some interesting tidbits from today:
The movie has an interesting plot. Basically, Clooney plays this high-flying executive whose only job is to "consolidate" badly performing firms. If you haven't figures it out yet, it's just a nicer way of saying his job is to fire people. See, the company he works for specializes in this sort of thing (a repo agency for firms, if you will) so anytime a firm is not doing so hot, it will hire Clooney and Co. to come clean up. Clooney is your seasoned veteran: he has a gazillion frequent flyer miles (towards the end of the movie, he gets a special gold-plated card by American Airlines for becoming one of the very few people to accumulate ten million miles), and an equal number of club cards, credit cards, hotel discount cards and so on. Long story short, he has a change of heart, one predictably disastrous love affair, and decides to change his life for good.
The reason I brought up this movie is that lately I have been feeling like a veteran too. I may not have the same number of frequent flier miles that Clooney does, but I have certainly done more than a fair share of flying. Medical school interview sure have familiarized me with a LOT of airports that I would otherwise never have gone to. Since all of my interviews usually end around 4 pm in the afternoon, I end up taking the late evening flight back to LAX. That means I get to my apartment by 11 (on a good day) or midnight (on a mas o menos day).
And let me tell you something: no matter how much I hate the ridiculously long lines, no matter how irritated I get at the byzantine security procedures (I am severely glaring at you American for moronically counting my garment bag as a "third carry-on" bag), I definitely breath a nice, long sigh of joy and relief when I get down the escalator and see the giant pic of our esteemed mayor giving a wholesome grin. Damn it feels good to be back each and every time.
To round this off, here are some interesting tidbits from today:
- God I had this kid patient once and he had severe foot odor. He had sweaty feet! - overheard at Northwestern med school.
- My faculty interviewer was roommates with noted neurosurgeon Keith Black at the University of Michigan med school. He also partied hard with Magic Johnson when Magic was at Michigan State. Best quote from him: "We needled Keith a lot when he appeared on cover of Time." Medical celebrities!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
On the the Road - 6: On top of the world
Quick post: I am in Chicago again, for another medical school interview - Northwestern(Citizen Lafayette has this theory that there is a collective midwestern conspiracy to lure me here because a majority of my interviews here have been in the area haha).
Staying with a medical student host. He graduated from UCLA, so I picked him solely on that criterion. He lives with two other roommates in an extremely posh high-rise (when I say high, I mean it. This place has 40 floors.) apartment complex. They live on the 36th floor and the view here is absolutely magnificent. Northwestern medical school is in the nicest part of the city, right by the Navy pier and practically right across from the lake.
I love Chicago and the culture here. Now if only it was a bit warmer this time of the year...
Just for gits and shiggles, read this statement:
That zinger brought to you by French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, perhaps the only person in history with enough cojones to decline the Nobel Prize.
Staying with a medical student host. He graduated from UCLA, so I picked him solely on that criterion. He lives with two other roommates in an extremely posh high-rise (when I say high, I mean it. This place has 40 floors.) apartment complex. They live on the 36th floor and the view here is absolutely magnificent. Northwestern medical school is in the nicest part of the city, right by the Navy pier and practically right across from the lake.
I love Chicago and the culture here. Now if only it was a bit warmer this time of the year...
Just for gits and shiggles, read this statement:
I am the being which is in such a way that in its being its being is in question
That zinger brought to you by French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, perhaps the only person in history with enough cojones to decline the Nobel Prize.
Happy rollerskates
Today I was having dinner at Chipotle with two friends and this mother and her little son sat down on the table next to us. The boy was probably around 4-5 years old, and he had extremely adorable unruly curly hair. His mother bought him some foodstuff, but he was barely even looking as she noisily opened the brown paper bag full of textured, processed nacho chips.
That's because he was staring intently at a colorful box sitting in front of him. It was adorned with tantalizing pictures of a giant, loopy race track, and it depicted sleek, modernistic cars zipping through the impossible curves of the structure. He tilted his head a little bit and gazed at it in infinite wonder. Irresistible. He looked at his mother, who delicately opened the box as he held on to the edges, perhaps afraid it would crumble.
Out it came - bright yellow pieces of plastic, four tiny cars with microfeatures carved on them. He was smiling now. She assembled the thing, pieces satisfactorily clicking into place. And the 5-year old boy had his first grand prix, right in Westwood in the middle of a bustling restaurant.
But the main reason I wrote this is the toy reminded me, all of a sudden, of this very similar penguin roller coaster I used to own as a kid. Basically, there were these little penguins on tiny wheels that would climb on a motorized escalator, and once at the top they would roll down on a bunch of loops.
(To my incredible surprise, I googled "penguin roller coaster toy" and this amazing video popped up. It shows how this great toy worked)
That little boy made my evening.
That's because he was staring intently at a colorful box sitting in front of him. It was adorned with tantalizing pictures of a giant, loopy race track, and it depicted sleek, modernistic cars zipping through the impossible curves of the structure. He tilted his head a little bit and gazed at it in infinite wonder. Irresistible. He looked at his mother, who delicately opened the box as he held on to the edges, perhaps afraid it would crumble.
Out it came - bright yellow pieces of plastic, four tiny cars with microfeatures carved on them. He was smiling now. She assembled the thing, pieces satisfactorily clicking into place. And the 5-year old boy had his first grand prix, right in Westwood in the middle of a bustling restaurant.
But the main reason I wrote this is the toy reminded me, all of a sudden, of this very similar penguin roller coaster I used to own as a kid. Basically, there were these little penguins on tiny wheels that would climb on a motorized escalator, and once at the top they would roll down on a bunch of loops.
(To my incredible surprise, I googled "penguin roller coaster toy" and this amazing video popped up. It shows how this great toy worked)
That little boy made my evening.
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