Movies I watched – August/September 2010

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Nimal

Most of my friends would say I’m not a movie watching person, at least some of them would say so. Yet I have been watching a variety of movies in the last couple of months. The main reason for this would be my new 150GB broadband. One may be surprised that I have watched many movies in the recent months. But 12 movies in 2 months is not that much I guess.

  1. Remember Me (2010) English (6/10)
    A slow and boring start, then keeps interesting in the middle and ends with a final twist that sucks big time.
  2. Salt (2010) English (6/10)
    Some interesting, time pass stuff.
  3. Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam (2009) Telugu (8/10)
    A nice romantic comedy. Through there is nothing new or unique, its interesting till the end.
  4. I Hate Luv Storys (2010) Hindi (7/10)
    A feel good romantic comedy.
  5. Tere Bin Laden (2010) Urdu/Hindi (6.5/10)
    It’s funny, rather than comedy.
  6. Aisha (2010) Hindi (6/10)
    Boring overdose.
  7. Mr.Singh Mrs.Mehta (2010) Hindi (6.5/10)
    Good attempt on complex relationships. But they relied more on the naked woman than the integral emotions.
  8. Dancing Star (2009) Sinhalese (5.5/10)
    They have tried to make something interesting.
  9. Kalavani (2010) Tamil (7.5/10)
    An interesting comedy flick.
  10. Boss Engira Baskaran (2010) Tamil (8/10)
    Guaranteed laugh throughout.
  11. Madrasapattinam (2010) Tamil (9/10)
    A decent effort in recent Tamil movies. Good cinematography and presentation of Madras of the 1950′s.
  12. Paiyaa (2010) Tamil (7.5/10)
    An interesting entertainer.
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Some movies are different – The Circle and Or

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Nimal

I was(?) a ‘pirated’ movie fan until I came to Australia. I used get a constant supply of movies from my P2P downloads and friends. I also had time to watch movies, so it was possible to watch around 300 movies in 2 years paying nothing but for my internet.

When I came to Australia, things got different. I didn’t have a broadband connection, or friends who had the supply of movies. More than anything I didn’t have time (or I couldn’t find time) to watch movies. But recently I got a television (surprisingly from my supervisor) and I got to watch few movies.

1.

The Circle

The Circle (2000) is an Iranian independent film by Jafar Panahi. It doesn’t have a single plot, but a collection of short stories that are connected and last story connects with the first one to make it a circle. It revolves around day-to-day challenges faced by Iranian women. I would say it’s not a very interesting movie, but it has some sort of liveliness and reality in its portrayal.

2.

Or (My treasure) (2004)

Or (My Treasure) (2004) is a French-Israeli that portrays a teenager who struggles to be responsible for her prostitute mother. The storyline gives a raw look at prostitution and how some end up there. It has lots of nudity and sex, but it’s more like watching it from inside the characters. So again this is not for everyone, but if you like realistic movies it might be a good watch.

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LaTeX on Windows with MiKTeX and Notepad++

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Nimal

Notepad++ is a versatile text editor and source code editor for Windows. I use it as my default text editor on Windows. For convenience of compiling .tex files while editing we can simply add a run command to Notepad++.

This is a simple “how to” for conveniently using Notepad++ as the editor for LaTex (using MiKTex) on Windows.

  • Install MiKTeX
  • Install Notepad++. (This comes with syntax highlighting for LaTeX, but for BibTex add the user style.)
  • Create a .bat file with the following code: 
    :: Called from Notepad++ Run
:: [path_to_bat_file] "$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)" "$(NAME_PART)"
 
:: Change Drive and  to File Directory
%~d1
cd %1
 
:: Run Cleanup
call:cleanup
 
:: Run pdflatex -> bibtex -> pdflatex -> pdflatex
pdflatex %2
bibtex  %2
:: If you are using multibib the following will run bibtex on all aux files
:: FOR /R . %%G IN (*.aux) DO bibtex %%G
pdflatex %2
pdflatex %2
 
:: Run Cleanup
call:cleanup
 
:: Open PDF (Script updated based on comments by 'menfeser'
:: START "" "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe" %2.pdf
START "" %2.pdf
 
:: Cleanup Function
:cleanup
:: del *.log
del *.dvi
del *.aux
del *.bbl
del *.blg
del *.brf
del *.out
goto:eof
  • Add the batch file as a run command:
    • Notepad++ -> Run -> <PATH_TO_BAT_FILE> “$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)” “$(NAME_PART)”
    • (Note the surrounded ” before and after CURRENT_DIRECTOR and NAME_PART)
    • Create a keyboard shortcut for this.
  • Now create a LaTeX file in Notepad++, Save and Run (using the short key defined).

Note:

  1. MiKTex should be added automatically to Windows “path” when it is installed, if not add “WHERE_MIKTEX_INSTALLED\miktex\bin” to path manually.
  2. This is just a work flow that works for me, you can modify it to suit yours.
  3. Plagiarised from various sources on the Internet. :)
Posted in Tech Notes | 24 Comments

Masters in Sweden (Last semester for free education)

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Nimal

Sweden has announced that starting from September 2011, students from non-EU countries will not be entitled free education. So this will be the last intake for free education.

For more information check the following links:

https://www.studera.nu/studera/1499.html

https://www.studera.nu/aw/courseGuide.do?lang=en

Applications can be submitted online at:

https://www.studera.nu/studera/1374.html

Last date for online application:
August 16, 2010
Last date to post certified copies of the certificates:
September 1, 2010

Also I guess there will be no English requirements according to this:

https://www.studera.nu/studera/1663.html

Posted in Postgraduate | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Uncluttered Society

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Nimal

What is a united society?
Is it one where there are no differences? Is it one where only one kind of people (sex/race/religion/language) live? Is it one where there are no small groups or divisions? Or is it to merge all the differences and create a new soup?

I don’t think so…!
I think it’s natural for humans to form into small groups. When there are so many differences between us, the one big united society is too remote from reality.

So how can we create a united society?
A united society starts from its differences. It is based on how all these differences work together and create an ecosystem where each of these can complement and coexist. Unless learn to appreciate the differences we will never make it a united society.

It’s the cluttered one that we need.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 3 Comments