Ratatouille : What Lesson Do We Learn

Watching the toons has always been pleasure. I was watching Ratatouille few days back and simply loved the movie. Must say the animation movies aren't just for kids. Ratatouille had a lot for the critics. My eagerness to know about what the critics felt for this movie brought some sweet & sour results. Though movie was fantastic but the controversial part was about Anton Ego – The critic in the movie.

Richard Corliss had a straight thing to say that "The subtle colors and textures of the food alone make Ratatouille a three-star Michelin evening."

In The New York Times, A.O. Scott views were :

A nearly flawless piece of popular art, as well as one of the most persuasive
portraits of an artist ever committed to film. It provides the kind of deep,
transporting pleasure, at once simple and sophisticated, that movies at their best have always promised.

Roger Ebert just stole my words, he says ;

"This is clearly one of the best of the year's films. Every time an animated film is
successful, you have to read all over again about how animation isn't "just for
children" but "for the whole family," and "even for adults going on their own." No
kidding!"

People ( The critics) admired the animation work, story, but when talking about the Ego's character, most of them disagree with him. Well according to me the movie had a nice script, nice use of words in the dialogues and simply superb quotes, especially of Anton Ego - The critic.

"In many ways the work of us as a critic is very easy. We risk very little. Yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that in a grand scheme of things the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so

These last critic comments for the dish "Ratatouille" (cooked by Remy – The Rat) were spellbinding. Simply loved the critic at end. Yes! liked a character rarely liked by others.

Advertisement innovations for IPL – how good or bad they are

IPL... IPL... its everywhere these days. Loving the matches, maximum sixes, shots, the fully packed stadium, the noise of the crowd and the advertisements. As I wrote in my previous post, IPL every time brings something new in the advertisement world for example Vodafone Zoozoo. Even this time IPL brought some new Ads as well as new brands. Karbonn Mobile is one of the new brand seen during IPL season 3. Though the brand is exploring itself to the fullest in IPL but still the quality of advertisement lacks. I after seeing the Ad, got a weird impression. Can't see Karbonn mobiles even a bit close to Nokia, Samsung or sony ericsson . It just looked like another new mobile brand.

As I always believe advertisements have a great power, innovation & creativity. And have always loved watching them I would like to talk about the advertisements in this post. Talking about Mobile phone Ads, have you seen MicroMax's Ad starring Akshay, it attracts the viewers. Akki playing tennis with his mobile "Action sensors – The attractive feature". If you want to show mobile images only (like Karbonn) , then its better you go for static advertising of banners and posters, why TV? Didn't even liked The Axe effect Ad. It looks like they are just forcefully putting cricketers in the Ad, just to add the IPL flavor, the brands are just trying to fit things. I found it stupid seeing bunch of girls running after the player in the field coz of Axe. Idea Oongli cricket is still better, though my sister and mom discovered it now that its a contest going on where you have to guess the things that Abhishek asks during the IPL breaks. So according to me the advertisement should be understandable for the common people.

I saw Komolika (Uravashi dholakia) in Shahrukh khan's Nokia - Main Bhi Coach Ad, liked it. It had fun, comedy and a meaning, something that is catchy. In fact Nokia - Main bhi coach's another Ad of newspaper boy is also cool. Talking about sensible good Tatasky's collection of Cold war ads are also fun watching. Wife annoying the husband with the lift as she missed her serial because of her husband's cricket match, then another one of making noises of mixie and the toast one. All are similar in concept but still my favorite is the one showing lift. Good and proper use of the IPL. I even saw iControl IPTV's Ad starring Jassi (Mona Singh) using the cricket to highlight their Chill (time shift) feature.

At the end would like to express what I desire from the advertisements. No matter which season it is, the ads should be worth watching. A 30 sec Ad should take your attention completely. Picking a cricket season for ads doesn't mean just push the cricketers or cricket into it. Just relate the ad with your product and show it. Once people understand, they get attracted and your Ad spreads the magic. Whenever I talk about Ads I always admire vodafone zoozoos, they have no comparisons yet. Still waiting for something like them or better than them.

IPL Was a Different Experience This Time

Watching IPL on my TV is so much fun, all because of IPTV. I missed Mumbai Vs Delhi match on 17th and was really regretting it. All my friends were talking about Sachin's brilliant performance. But the regret was not much since my IPTV was there for making my regret vanish. In fact I had more fun watching the Mumbai Indians banging on & on. Loved the way Sanath Jayasuriya was caught, I even paused the moment just to see how high Yogesh Nagar jumped with his spinning body to catch. Just a brilliant catch by a brilliant fielder.

The experience of watching a cricket match on iControl IPTV was great, the best part was skipping of Ads. I watched the match without breaks. Hey! Don't feel jealous. At some point of times I was feeling like I am the third umpire, coz I was pausing, forwarding & rewinding the TV at my will. Must say iControl choose the right name. Dinesh karthik let it slip out of his hands but Match's every nick of time was totally under my control. When you watch a match like this (Mumbai Indian Vs Delhi Daredevils) you just wish to be a part of the Live audience. I felt like I am setting with the audience with my 5.1 channels audio.

There are lots of new players in IPL and while watching match we all wonder who this new player is? Here too, I simply paused the scoreboard and saw the players list with ease. Used this feature when missed the name of Yogesh Nagar (The new young player who caught Sanath). In fact pausing & reading the slogans/boards that lots of fans are holding was amazing, use to miss it earlier. Remember one sweet text of a fan saying "There are 2 types of batsmen 1. SACHIN 2......" (the camera moved and missed who the 2nd one is). No worries just pressed the rewind button & found who the 2nd one is "There are 2 types of batsmen 1. SACHIN 2. ALL D OTHER".

I was watching the match on Chill, Saurab Tiwari came for batting & the guests arrived. Simply watched the match after they left & from the very moment where I left. Its just pause, enter the time and start playing from where you left. Well I had all the comfort watching the match & gonna enjoy every match like this from now onwards. Don't worry will not miss all my Live matches.

IPTV from iControl has Cool feature too, with everything that Chill has, but for the LIVE TV. Yes I can become third umpire of LIVE match too (just kidding).

200 Free TV channels – The game changer

DTH television service is spreading like fire in the country. Cable TV is vanishing in thin air. People today want the quality along with quantity. Yes! DTH is providing them all that they want. We have a good number of DTH service providers today - Dish TV, TataSky, Airtel and lots more. I don't think I need to name them, we all are aware of them. I talked about them in my previous posts too. So what is it that we are here to talk about? Its DD Direct Plus.

Well DD Direct Plus or lets say DoorDarshan Direct Plus is the country's only Free To Air (FTA) direct to home (DTH) service run by Prasar Bharati that provides satellite channels and audio programming. They are currently providing only 59 FTA channels, most of which are DoorDarshan's own. Also the All India Radio channels are included in the package. At present DD Direct reaches 6 million homes, while private DTH operators cater to 14-16 million homes. Officials expect its reach to expand to 30 million homes within months of launching the new product. What is it that will give it a 30 million home connection? Its the new package. Wondering what this new package got? Its the upcoming Free 200 channels that DD Direct is planning to launch in the end of this year. The idea behind this initiative is to make the DTH service more viewer friendly and adequate dose of popular entertainment channels will make it more attractive.

The recent news about this service really brought a shock to most private DTH Service providers. Paying a huge amount of security and other charges along with daily monthly rent for getting more than 100 digital channels looks costly when you have such a great offer, where you pay only for the set top box (STB).Obviously you will opt for the free one. India is a place where a simple "SALE" tag attracts a lot of audience and when you get something for FREE then you can imagine what an amount of customers DD Direct will get. [POLL] Would you continue paying private DTH for the same channels that you are getting for free?

Well looking at the other side of the coin, the question that arises is that will the payed channels let their channels be telecasted for free? Will they agree with Doordarshan? DD Direct must be having a plan for making these paid channels go with them. I guess yes! I read HT report on this, saying :

The moot question is whether some pay channels will be willing to turn free to take advantage of the huge viewership DD Direct expects to offer, making up in advertising rates what they lose from subscriptions. Officials said they offered another incentive: the carriage fee — annual price of beaming a channel — Doordarshan charges is lower than private operators. "If DD Direct can put together a good combination, it will have a good market," said Uday Shankar, CEO Star India. "But I doubt pay channels will shift."

Some other things that DD Direct need to have in order to attract its customers are a good collection of applications. With Tatasky, dish TV etc having gaming applications and lot more to offer , DD Direct too need to get solution or lets say some good applications.

Don't know whether it will be possible or not for DD to bring 200 Free channels. All we can do is wait for the year to end and check it out what happens. Keeping my fingers crossed and waiting for this Game changer.

TV With More Entertainment

Television is something everyone is aware about. It is one of the daily use machine in our life. People spend lot of money for entertainment. TV is something we all get entertained from and its the cheapest mode of entertainment too. I would say TV is one time investment, life time entertainment package.

Dance, Music, Movies, News, National and international all type of channels under one roof. And not only this. Along with TV channels that we are watching since a long time, now we get various applications and features too. Games, Shopping, classifieds, job hunt , matrimony, messaging, FM, video library and a lot more stuff are now provided in a single device i.e. your TV. IPTV and Direct to home TV are making this possible. Especially when the TV is running with the help of internet technology, then you can imagine what all it can provide. Yes I am talking about the Internet Protocol TV (IPTV). It can do a lot more with the word interaction.

Wanna play cricket? Just go to the games application and play it.
Wanna read a story? No need to search for a book, simply use your TV's remote.
Wanna have a mind exercise ? Play the puzzles and sudoku on your TV.
Wanna book a travel ticket ? just go for it use your TV.
Tired of searching a soul mate, TV comes to help you.
Wanna know your area's restaurant and hotels just surf your TV.
Well whatever you want to know your TV gives you the answer.

If FM on Saturday nights is your choice then listen to it on your TV only. Not only this video share is a feature which will definitely turn you ON. Yes! Share your picnic videos or your wedding videos with the help of your TV. And it is very possibly in India and its secure too. I saw this cool feature on iControl IPTV and since then have fallen in love with its applications and features. IPTVs is really a technology to look forward. Its letting you do a lot in the television world.

I must say TV is a total entertainment package. If 10 out of my 50+ friends are going out for new year party then rest are getting entertained through TV at home that too the whole family together enjoys. There are some IPTVs letting you browse you tube videos, what else do you need? No need to rush and buy tickets to attend an event when you get to watch it on your TV with equal fun. TV entertainment is no more with limitations of time. You can record the the shows you feel you will miss, but that is not all. IPTV lets you watch all the shows any time without even recording. It auto saves the TV content (shows) and the viewer can watch later the auto recorded shows. Let me tell you the IPTV recording memory has no comparison with the memory of your STB. Live TV pause-rewind is something that comes to help when your favorite entertainment TV show is getting interrupted. Triple play is the word adding more comfort and entertainment to your TV viewing. It lets voice, video and data to be accessible on your TV.
So when all the entertainment modes are available at a single place then you call it as a mega entertainment i.e Television.